Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Lowers Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 99.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 14,195 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Booking were worth $236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.7% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,132,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 59.6% during the third quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,042,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in Booking by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 22,669 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $122,396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,514 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $361,463,000. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA lifted its position in Booking by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 5,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,460 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Gordon Haskett increased their target price on Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Booking from $216.28 to $187.92 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Susquehanna set a $260.00 target price on Booking in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, HSBC cut their target price on Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.14.

Booking Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of BKNG opened at $167.38 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $129.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.22. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $150.14 and a 1-year high of $233.58.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,081,600. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 97,076 shares of company stock valued at $16,417,121. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.