Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.33% of Booking worth $578,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in Booking by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the period. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Booking during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,492.11 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $4,096.23 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $5,157.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5,372.97. The company has a market cap of $177.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.70, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.23.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $83.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is 24.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price target on Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. 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. Finally, BNP Paribas set a $6,100.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, November 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,179.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total value of $75,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,510. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,800,000. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.