Banque Pictet & Cie SA Raises Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Booking were worth $36,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $401,371,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its position in shares of Booking by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 1,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,699,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 32,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $113,827,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its position in shares of Booking by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 18,954 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,234,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the period. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $879,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BKNG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Benchmark cut their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,497.00 to $3,976.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $3,950.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,068.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Trading Up 1.7 %

BKNG stock traded up $62.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $3,830.58. 223,343 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 258,373. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,733.04 and a 1-year high of $4,144.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $3,801.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,693.19.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $37.62 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

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.