Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Invests $51.58 Million in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 282,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,581,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at $1,370,455,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth about $472,723,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In related news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,200,000. The trade was a 23.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This represents a 25.06% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 77,550 shares of company stock valued at $16,112,304 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on BKNG shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays set a $210.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.45.

Booking Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $189.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.09. The firm has a market cap of $160.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $230.98.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $55.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. 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.