Welch & Forbes LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Welch & Forbes LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,274 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $57,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in Booking by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BKNG. Gordon Haskett raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,620.00 to $5,710.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Seaport Research Partners upped their target price on Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Booking from $7,447.00 to $7,656.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,205.88.

Booking Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,001.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5,227.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5,318.23. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $83.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,124. The trade was a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,190,323. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.