Amiral Gestion Takes Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Amiral Gestion bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 807 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,357,000. Booking accounts for about 1.6% of Amiral Gestion’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 88 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. GSG Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 4.3% in the second quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 1.9% during the second quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Booking by 3.2% in the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 65 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 0.4% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 488 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,825,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,345.47 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $4,096.23 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5,072.94 and a 200-day moving average of $5,376.97. The company has a market cap of $172.28 billion, a PE ratio of 34.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.25.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $83.39 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,414.53, for a total transaction of $3,091,696.63. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,010 shares in the company, valued at $113,759,275.30. This trade represents a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at $7,570,000. This trade represents a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $5,433.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group set a $6,806.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price target on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,149.23.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.