61,750 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Purchased by Vega Investment Solutions

Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 61,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,132,000. Booking makes up about 1.6% of Vega Investment Solutions’ portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth approximately $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,370,455,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in Booking by 191,965.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after buying an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Booking during the second quarter worth $472,723,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial set a $242.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.45.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $160.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $230.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $189.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.09.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.00, for a total transaction of $79,125.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,133 shares in the company, valued at $3,404,063. This represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,618,327.82. The trade was a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Booking

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.