Focus Partners Wealth Grows Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 17.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 22,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,261 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Booking were worth $118,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,997,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,055,006,000 after buying an additional 23,159 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Booking by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,435,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,685,520,000 after buying an additional 6,976 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in Booking by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 732,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,920,535,000 after buying an additional 56,999 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,271,041,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Booking by 6.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 405,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,187,269,000 after buying an additional 25,522 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock opened at $164.94 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $233.58. The company has a market capitalization of $127.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $169.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.06.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Booking from $260.00 to $237.40 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Booking from $226.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Booking from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Booking from $248.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.14.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 Booking 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 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 80,351 shares of company stock worth $13,545,706. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.