Sivia Capital Partners LLC Acquires 6,858 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 924.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,858 shares during the quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 642 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 112 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $600,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $700,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Booking by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 655 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,508,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 13 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $220.00 target price on Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Argus boosted their price objective on Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares in the company, valued at $12,618,327.82. This represents a 25.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,000. The trade was a 23.81% 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. Insiders have sold 89,625 shares of company stock valued at $15,872,675 over the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $212.06 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $184.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.84. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $231.80. The company has a market cap of $159.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $55.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Booking Company 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.