III Capital Management Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

III Capital Management bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 11,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,041,000. Booking accounts for about 0.5% of III Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 246 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 97 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 45 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Radnor Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,860,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the company’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 sale, the vice president owned 375,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. The trade was a 11.77% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,200,000. The trade was a 23.81% 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. Insiders sold a total of 77,550 shares of company stock valued at $16,112,304 over the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $236.00 target price (up from $225.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective 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. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $274.00 price target (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price target on Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.45.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $213.78 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $229.13. The company has a market cap of $160.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $190.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $55.40 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

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.