Legal & General Group Plc Acquires Shares of 5,565,678 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,565,678 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $992,026,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 246 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,317,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its stake in Booking by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 97 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Booking by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 45 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $274.00 price target (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Gordon Haskett raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.45.

Booking Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of BKNG opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $230.98. The stock has a market cap of $160.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $189.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.09.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. Booking’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $55.40 earnings per share. 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 announced 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 is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,200,000. This trade represents a 23.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 sold 77,550 shares of company stock valued at $16,112,304 in the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Booking Company 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.