Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Bought by Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2,414.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,950 shares during the period. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Booking were worth $2,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter worth $11,687,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 2,860.8% in the 2nd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 12,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,238,000 after purchasing an additional 12,130 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 1,663.9% in the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 27,071 shares during the period. Finally, Rit Capital Partners PLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $51,396,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 the company’s 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 375,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,851,439.75. This trade represents a 11.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Benchmark upped their price target on Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $274.00 price objective (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on Booking from $211.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.45.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock opened at $199.09 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $192.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $226.10.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $55.40 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s 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.