Sanctuary Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 30,385 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 30,385 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,416,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG purchased a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth $11,687,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 2,860.8% during the second quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 12,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,238,000 after acquiring an additional 12,130 shares during the period. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 1,663.9% in the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,115,000 after acquiring an additional 27,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rit Capital Partners PLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $51,396,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of Booking 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 owned 375,025 shares in the company, valued at $77,851,439.75. The trade was a 11.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. 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 90 days, insiders have sold 77,550 shares of company stock valued at $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $160.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $230.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.09.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $55.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $215.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.45.

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.