Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Buys 14,604 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2,968.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,096 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,604 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Booking by 3,550.0% during the second quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 146 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Osbon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. First Financial Corp IN increased its position in shares of Booking by 2,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total transaction of $206,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,100,500. This trade represents a 6.25% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 89,625 shares of company stock worth $15,872,675. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush boosted their target price on Booking from $211.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial set a $242.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $220.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Evercore set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.72.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $212.06 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.84. The firm 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 Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $231.80.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Booking 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.