Crewe Advisors LLC Grows Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Crewe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2,537.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,857 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $955,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 87 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $179,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,618,327.82. This represents a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold a total of 89,625 shares of company stock valued at $15,872,675 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $234.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $274.00 price target (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 price target on Booking and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Evercore set a $245.00 price objective on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.72.

Booking Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $212.06 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $231.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $184.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.84. The stock has a market cap of $159.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 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 company had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $55.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders 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 of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

About Booking

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.