Winslow Capital Management LLC Trims Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Winslow Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 86,385 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 979 shares during the period. Booking accounts for approximately 1.7% of Winslow Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Winslow Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $500,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mainsail Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Booking by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Mainsail Asset Management LLC now owns 47 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 0.3% during the first quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 638 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,937,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 2.3% during the first quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 88 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.3% in the second quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Finally, Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.9% in the second quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $5,433.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday. Seaport Global Securities increased their target price on shares of Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, December 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,146.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total transaction of $79,379.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,873,729.36. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at $4,800,000. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,388 shares of company stock valued at $17,629,822. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,197.04 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $5,077.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5,383.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.25. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $4,096.23 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $83.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.