Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Stock Purchased by Jacobs & Co. CA

Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 27.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,242 shares during the period. Booking makes up approximately 1.1% of Jacobs & Co. CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in Booking were worth $12,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $11,646,302,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Booking by 2,674.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,420,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,026,348,000 after purchasing an additional 37,999,915 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,370,455,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 2,525.5% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,101,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,087,597,000 after purchasing an additional 5,869,459 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Benchmark lifted their target price on Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares in the company, valued at $12,618,327.82. This represents a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Wittman sold 375 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.00, for a total value of $79,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,404,063. This trade represents a 2.27% 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 three months, insiders have sold 83,050 shares of company stock worth $17,182,274. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $160.34 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $186.28 and a 200 day moving average of $177.89. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $220.81. The firm has a market cap of $120.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.13.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $55.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel and restaurant reservation company headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. Through its digital platforms, the company helps consumers search for, compare and reserve accommodations, flights, rental cars, vacation packages, attractions and restaurant reservations.

Its portfolio includes Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, OpenTable, Rentalcars.com and the travel metasearch brands Momondo and Cheapflights. Booking.com is primarily known for lodging reservations, while Priceline focuses on travel deals, Agoda serves customers across international markets with a strong presence in Asia, KAYAK and its related brands provide travel search and comparison services, and OpenTable operates a restaurant reservation platform.

The company was founded in 1997 as Priceline.com and was later renamed The Priceline Group before adopting the Booking Holdings name in 2018.