W1M Asset Management Ltd Takes $2.20 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

W1M Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 12,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,203,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth approximately $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,370,455,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,997,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,055,006,000 after buying an additional 23,159 shares during the period. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after buying an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,200,000. This represents a 23.81% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 140,050 shares of company stock valued at $26,341,680. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $215.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Benchmark upped their price target on Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $209.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $157.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.00. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $231.80.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Booking Profile

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.