Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Bought by Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1,419.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,535 shares during the quarter. Booking makes up approximately 0.8% of Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Booking were worth $20,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,271,041,000. HF Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 28,353.8% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,094,083,000 after purchasing an additional 203,580 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 61.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 215,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,165,546,000 after purchasing an additional 82,326 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Booking by 8,004.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 70,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $377,176,000 after purchasing an additional 69,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $361,463,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. Wells Fargo & Company set a $215.00 target price on Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley raised Booking from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $246.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $175.00 price target (down from $180.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $245.00 price target on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.14.

Booking Stock Up 1.6%

BKNG opened at $167.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $129.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.08. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $233.58. The business’s 50 day moving average is $169.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.50.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,076 shares of company stock valued at $16,417,121. 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.