Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $318.78 Million Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 27.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 75,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,325 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $318,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in Booking during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Booking from $234.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays set a $210.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.11.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $174.29 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $231.80. The company has a market capitalization of $135.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average of $168.59 and a 200-day moving average of $181.02.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The firm’s revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares in the company, valued at $55,269,532.64. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking 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 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 three months, insiders have sold 80,351 shares of company stock valued at $13,545,706. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.