Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Grows Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA grew its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 85.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,123 shares during the quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings in Booking were worth $12,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Booking by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 854,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,936,132,000 after acquiring an additional 9,333 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at about $2,210,917,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 6.8% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 379,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,197,495,000 after purchasing an additional 24,030 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.9% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 377,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,183,690,000 after purchasing an additional 17,662 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Booking by 578,824.0% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,675,765,000 after buying an additional 289,412 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,570,000. The trade was a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at $4,800,000. This represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Seaport Global Securities raised their price target on shares of Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,149.23.

Booking Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,436.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.34, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5,065.68 and a 200 day moving average of $5,377.45. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $4,096.23 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $83.39 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.96%.

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.