Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 30,385 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,416,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth approximately $11,687,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 2,860.8% in the 2nd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 12,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,238,000 after purchasing an additional 12,130 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 1,663.9% during the 2nd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 27,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rit Capital Partners PLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth $51,396,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on BKNG shares. Barclays set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Booking and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Booking from $266.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $234.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 price objective on Booking and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,200,000. This represents a 23.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. 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 have sold 77,550 shares of company stock valued at $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $189.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.09. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $230.98.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Booking Company 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.