Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Purchased by PFG Investments LLC

PFG Investments LLC boosted its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2,173.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,499 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $466,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its position in Booking by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,158,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 642 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 112 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 1.7% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. Finally, Lakewood Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 655 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,508,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 89,625 shares of company stock valued at $15,872,675. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore set a $245.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $240.00 price target on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $212.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $159.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $184.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.04. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $150.14 and a 1-year high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $55.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.