Korea Investment CORP Purchases New Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Korea Investment CORP acquired a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 582,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $103,747,000. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.08% of Booking at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG bought a new position in Booking in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,687,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 2,860.8% during the 2nd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 12,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,238,000 after buying an additional 12,130 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in Booking by 1,663.9% during the 2nd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 27,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rit Capital Partners PLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $51,396,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BKNG. 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Benchmark upped their target price on Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $209.62 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $188.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.19. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $150.14 and a 1-year high of $231.80. The company has a market cap of $157.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Booking

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,000. This trade represents a 23.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 140,050 shares of company stock worth $26,341,680 over the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.