Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Sells 80,737 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 93.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,988 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 80,737 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $32,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,997,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,055,006,000 after purchasing an additional 23,159 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Booking by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,435,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,685,520,000 after purchasing an additional 6,976 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in Booking by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 732,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,920,535,000 after buying an additional 56,999 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,271,041,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Booking by 6.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 405,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,187,269,000 after buying an additional 25,522 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on BKNG shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, May 29th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays set a $210.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 62,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 80,351 shares of company stock valued at $13,545,706 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $174.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $169.57 and a 200 day moving average of $183.99. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.11%.

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.