Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd Acquires Shares of 26,002 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 26,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,635,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at about $1,157,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the second quarter valued at about $769,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,014,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $248,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $107,091,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,618,327.82. The trade was a 25.06% decrease in their position. 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $188.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $234.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Argus raised their target price on Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.45.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $202.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $152.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.49. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $150.14 and a 1-year high of $226.63.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

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.