Lone Pine Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 59,972 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 59,972 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $347,192,000. Booking makes up 2.5% of Lone Pine Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Lone Pine Capital LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Booking as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ICONIQ Capital LLC raised its position in Booking by 50.7% in the second quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 211 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $758,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Booking by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,434 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,303,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Beck Mack & Oliver LLC purchased a new position in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $249,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in Booking by 1.7% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $700,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total value of $352,755.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,516.92, for a total value of $5,588,639.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,237,930.44. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,388 shares of company stock worth $17,629,822. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of several analyst reports. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $6,250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 target price on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price target on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,149.23.

Booking Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,301.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $170.87 billion, a PE ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50 day moving average is $5,061.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5,379.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $4,096.23 and a 52 week high of $5,839.41.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.96%.

Booking 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.