Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Purchased by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 888 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Booking were worth $30,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $516,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Booking by 79.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 154,206 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $695,259,000 after buying an additional 68,243 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Booking by 182.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $482,081,000 after acquiring an additional 67,562 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 27.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 181,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $836,223,000 after acquiring an additional 39,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Booking by 19.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 213,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $983,707,000 after acquiring an additional 35,171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BKNG. Citigroup lifted their target price on Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Truist Financial upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $5,630.00 to $5,750.00 in a research note on Monday. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $6,250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, September 29th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $5,975.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,014.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total transaction of $79,379.70. Following the transaction, the director owned 732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,729.36. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total value of $352,755.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,254.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $170.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.35. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $5,427.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $5,378.47.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $41.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.