Lone Pine Capital LLC Invests $347.19 Million in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 59,972 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $347,192,000. Booking accounts for about 2.5% of Lone Pine Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in Booking by 15.6% in the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 75,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $437,284,000 after acquiring an additional 11,829 shares during the last quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,467,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,262,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Booking by 67.3% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $174,893,000 after purchasing an additional 12,148 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price target on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Gordon Haskett upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,620.00 to $5,710.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,149.23.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,301.64 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,061.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5,379.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $83.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total transaction of $75,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,510. This trade represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 443 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,820.35, for a total value of $2,135,415.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 22,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,775,572.85. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,388 shares of company stock worth $17,629,822 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.