Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Sells 31,029 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 31,029 shares during the period. Booking makes up about 3.4% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.35% of Booking worth $600,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.7% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,132,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.2% in the third quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 22,669 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $122,396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $361,463,000. Rit Capital Partners PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,396,000. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 32.5% in the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 5,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $169.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.08. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $233.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $170.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.11.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,572,025.25. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 97,076 shares of company stock worth $16,417,121 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on Booking from $244.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $256.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.14.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.