Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Takes $41.69 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 233,911 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $41,692,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,370,455,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $472,723,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of BKNG opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $189.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.09. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $230.98. The company has a market cap of $160.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $55.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. 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 currently 18.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,618,327.82. This trade represents a 25.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total transaction of $10,389,879.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 375,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,851,439.75. This trade represents a 11.77% 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 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Booking from $211.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Gordon Haskett boosted their price target on Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.45.

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.