OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Acquires New Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 6,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,228,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 3,475.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 143 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 3,550.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 146 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, First Financial Corp IN grew its holdings in Booking by 2,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of BKNG opened at $209.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $157.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $188.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.19. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $55.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total value of $10,389,879.50. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 375,025 shares in the company, valued at $77,851,439.75. This trade represents a 11.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This trade represents a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 140,050 shares of company stock valued at $26,341,680. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.