M&G Plc Has $1.93 Million Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

M&G Plc decreased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 487 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. M&G Plc’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after buying an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Booking by 4.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after buying an additional 21,969 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,734 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,362,000 after acquiring an additional 15,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in Booking by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $976,096,000 after acquiring an additional 9,419 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock traded up $128.58 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $3,567.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 263,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 261,250. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,827.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,686.74. The company has a market capitalization of $119.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.38. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,733.04 and a 12 month high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $37.62 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.46 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 26.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. B. Riley reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,025.00 to $3,860.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,700.00 to $4,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,068.32.

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.