Eastern Bank Boosts Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Eastern Bank increased its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 82.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 124 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Booking were worth $522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its stake in Booking by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 2,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,518,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the 1st quarter worth approximately $537,000. BDF Gestion purchased a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,897,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in Booking during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $519,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 1,084 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,933,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,313.01 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,733.04 and a 52 week high of $4,395.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $4,029.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3,838.71. The company has a market capitalization 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 (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for 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 was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $37.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. B. Riley decreased their price target on Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,164.11.

Booking Company Profile

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.