OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Purchases Shares of 29,425 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 29,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,245,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in Booking by 1.7% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 13 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 53 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total transaction of $206,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,100,500. This represents a 6.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This trade represents a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 140,050 shares of company stock worth $26,341,680 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of several research reports. Gordon Haskett raised their target price on Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $274.00 price objective (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Evercore set a $245.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.72.

Booking Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $209.87 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $231.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $187.71 and a 200-day moving average of $177.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $55.40 EPS. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.