Baillie Gifford & Co. Cuts Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Baillie Gifford & Co. cut its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 31.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,058 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,391 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Booking were worth $16,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in Booking by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 18.6% during the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 75,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $437,284,000 after buying an additional 11,829 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 67.3% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $174,893,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 339.0% in the 3rd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 180 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $974,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Covey Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 1.0%

Booking stock opened at $5,098.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $164.32 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5,191.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5,337.30.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business posted $83.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 24.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on BKNG. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price target on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Booking from $5,800.00 to $5,600.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,209.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,800,000. This represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 953 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,181.34, for a total value of $4,937,817.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 19,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,631,984.10. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,190,323. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.