Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Invests $210.35 Million in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 39,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,352,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Zhang Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 510 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $3,730,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Booking by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 1,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,118,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its holdings in Booking by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 825 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Booking from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Booking from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $246.00 to $220.00 in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler set a $195.00 price objective on Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. B. Riley Financial dropped their price objective on Booking from $272.00 to $264.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.14.

Booking Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $167.38 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.37. The firm has a market cap of $129.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.10. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.Booking’s revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% 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 three months, insiders sold 97,076 shares of company stock valued at $16,417,121. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.