3,844 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Purchased by Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC

Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $742,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in Booking by 191,965.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,171,489,000 after buying an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1,497.3% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 870,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,665,168,000 after buying an additional 816,022 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 66,209.8% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 659,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,600,000 after buying an additional 658,788 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Booking by 2,548.6% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 649,602 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $115,785,000 after acquiring an additional 625,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $3,271,041,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was 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 owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,000. The trade was a 23.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 89,625 shares of company stock worth $15,872,675 over the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $274.00 price target (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $236.00 price objective (up from $225.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.72.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $212.06 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $231.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.65.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.