Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 632 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.08% of Booking worth $137,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Booking by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $266,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,275,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,098.50 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,096.23 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5,191.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5,339.91.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at $7,570,000. The trade was a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total value of $80,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,124. The trade was a 2.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,190,323. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price target on Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Research Partners upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,830.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,209.94.

Booking Company Profile

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.