Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases Shares of 20,851 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 20,851 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,717,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth about $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,370,455,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its position in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth about $472,723,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $215.00 price target (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $240.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.45.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.09. The firm has a market cap of $160.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $230.98.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion during 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 revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $55.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total value of $206,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,100,500. This trade represents a 6.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total transaction of $10,389,879.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 375,025 shares in the company, valued at $77,851,439.75. The trade was a 11.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.