Holocene Advisors LP Has $295.49 Million Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Holocene Advisors LP cut its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 50.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 51,041 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 52,914 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for 0.7% of Holocene Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Booking were worth $295,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in Booking during the second quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 400.0% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Gordon Haskett lifted their target price on Booking from $5,620.00 to $5,710.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,149.23.

Booking Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,301.64 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,061.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5,379.40. The stock has a market cap of $170.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.25. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $4,096.23 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $83.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Booking’s payout ratio is 24.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,800,000. The trade was a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total value of $75,450.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 717 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,510. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,388 shares of company stock worth $17,629,822. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.