162 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Acquired by Americana Partners LLC

Americana Partners LLC bought a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 162 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $875,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 854,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,936,132,000 after purchasing an additional 9,333 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth $2,210,917,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Booking by 6.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 379,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,197,495,000 after buying an additional 24,030 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in Booking by 4.9% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 377,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,183,690,000 after buying an additional 17,662 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 578,824.0% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,675,765,000 after buying an additional 289,412 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,124. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 953 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,181.34, for a total transaction of $4,937,817.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 19,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,631,984.10. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,190,323 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,163.61 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.56, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5,188.49 and a 200 day moving average of $5,346.25. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $4,096.23 and a one year high of $5,839.41.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,830.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,229.61.

Booking Company 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.