40,081 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Bought by Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 40,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,144,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its stake in Booking by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 87 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $179,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total transaction of $206,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,100,500. This trade represents a 6.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. The trade was a 11.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 140,050 shares of company stock valued at $26,341,680 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $209.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $188.60 and a 200 day moving average of $177.00. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $231.80.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.72.

Booking Profile

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.