Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 27,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,977,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.7% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its position in shares of Booking by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 53 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,548,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 246 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,317,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $274.00 price objective (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,100,500. The trade was a 6.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total value of $10,389,879.50. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 375,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. The trade was a 11.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 140,050 shares of company stock valued at $26,341,680 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $209.62 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $188.60 and a 200-day moving average of $177.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly 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. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $55.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors 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 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.