BLB&B Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

BLB&B Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 50 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after purchasing an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after buying an additional 21,969 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after buying an additional 10,889 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 29.2% in the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $702,049,000 after buying an additional 43,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Booking by 22.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 159,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $584,492,000 after acquiring an additional 28,904 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,313.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $146.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,733.04 and a 12 month high of $4,395.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4,029.83 and a 200-day moving average of $3,838.71.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $37.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.05 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on BKNG. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Booking in a report on Friday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 target price for the company. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Booking from $3,900.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,164.11.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.