Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 5,759 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Nordea Investment Management AB trimmed its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 220,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,759 shares during the period. Booking makes up 1.0% of Nordea Investment Management AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,193,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 1.9% in the second quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Booking by 3.2% during the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 65 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 488 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,825,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Five Oceans Advisors boosted its stake in Booking by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Five Oceans Advisors now owns 88 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BKNG. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,523.00 to $5,954.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Seaport Global Securities increased their price target on Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $6,250.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,830.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,179.42.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,570,000. This trade represents a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total value of $75,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,510. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 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 insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,391.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.77 billion, a PE ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,164.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5,371.53. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $83.39 EPS. Booking’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

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.