192,996 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Purchased by Magellan Asset Management Ltd

Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 192,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,400,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,370,455,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,997,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,055,006,000 after buying an additional 23,159 shares during the period. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in Booking by 191,965.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,171,489,000 after buying an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. The trade was a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 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 a total of 140,050 shares of company stock valued at $26,341,680 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $234.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. 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 data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.72.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $209.62 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $231.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $188.60 and its 200-day moving average is $176.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.