Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Boosts Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,882 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Booking were worth $58,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Booking by 1,435.6% during the 1st quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 691 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,183,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc grew its position in Booking by 3.8% in the first quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc now owns 868 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,999,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 36.4% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 622 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,868,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the 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 sale, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at $4,800,000. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,570,000. This represents a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Up 0.0%

BKNG opened at $5,441.33 on Tuesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $4,096.23 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5,113.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5,370.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas set a $6,100.00 target price on Booking in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $6,250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,149.23.

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.