Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Takes $51.58 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 282,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,581,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth about $11,687,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its stake in Booking by 2,860.8% during the 2nd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 12,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,238,000 after purchasing an additional 12,130 shares during the period. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 1,663.9% in the 2nd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 27,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rit Capital Partners PLC bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,396,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.09. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $230.98.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $55.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date 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 18.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $274.00 price target (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment 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 target price of $236.45.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total value of $10,389,879.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 375,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. This trade represents a 11.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This 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 three months, insiders have sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by 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.