Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 4,883 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 86.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,883 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Booking were worth $44,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. First Western Trust Bank raised its stake in Booking by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Western Trust Bank now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC grew its position in Booking by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 57 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its position in Booking by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 140 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,572,025.25. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 80,351 shares of company stock valued at $13,545,706 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on BKNG. Wells Fargo & Company set a $214.00 price objective on Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Gordon Haskett upped their target price on Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.26.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $178.39 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $168.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.00. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $231.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

About Booking

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.