Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Cuts Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 90.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 995 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,556 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Booking were worth $4,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Osbon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $248.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler set a $195.00 target price on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus boosted their target price on Booking from $188.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.14.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock opened at $182.41 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.29. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $233.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.35 billion, a PE ratio of 23.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 80,351 shares of company stock worth $13,545,706 over the last 90 days. 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.