Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 67.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,786 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,737 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $9,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $361,463,000. Rit Capital Partners PLC acquired a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $51,396,000. Rathbones Group PLC raised its position in Booking by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 64,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $347,604,000 after acquiring an additional 11,042 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 56,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $300,364,000 after purchasing an additional 15,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 862.0% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,167,890,000 after purchasing an additional 195,411 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $171.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.60. The firm has a market cap of $133.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.08. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion for 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%. Booking’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. This trade represents a 5.31% 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 80,351 shares of company stock worth $13,545,706 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $260.00 to $237.40 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on Booking from $259.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler set a $195.00 target price on Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on Booking from $256.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued 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 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.