The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 550,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $98,092,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.07% of Booking as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trajan Wealth LLC bought a new position in Booking in the second quarter worth $44,414,000. Peak Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the second quarter valued at $14,681,000. Fiduciary Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at $175,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at $51,581,000. Finally, L2 Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter worth about $792,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 375,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. The trade was a 11.77% 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 have sold 77,550 shares of company stock valued at $16,112,304 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $266.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $274.00 target price (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. 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, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.45.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $213.78 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $229.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $190.14 and its 200 day moving average is $177.35. The stock has a market cap of $160.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given 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 dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.