Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 12,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,463,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in Booking by 191,965.8% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,171,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $3,271,041,000. HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 28,353.8% in the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,094,083,000 after purchasing an additional 203,580 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 862.0% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,167,890,000 after purchasing an additional 195,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Booking by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 966,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,173,899,000 after purchasing an additional 128,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG traded up $2.87 on Friday, hitting $178.39. 3,974,630 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,066,356. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.49. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $231.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKNG. HSBC decreased their price objective on Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus set a $210.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 80,351 shares of company stock valued at $13,545,706 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.