Brighton Jones LLC Increases Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 26.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 447 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. CW Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Booking by 29.0% in the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 40,920 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $188,515,000 after purchasing an additional 9,209 shares in the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 754 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,472,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BKNG shares. KeyCorp increased their price target on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays upped their target price on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Seaport Global Securities boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas set a $6,100.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, November 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,149.23.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at $4,800,000. This represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total value of $80,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,124. The trade was a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,406.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.14, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $5,080.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5,372.85. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $83.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

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.