Mariner LLC Purchases 4,948 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Mariner LLC boosted its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 23.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 26,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,948 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $141,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $361,463,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in Booking by 7.2% in the third quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 22,669 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $122,396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514 shares in the last quarter. Rit Capital Partners PLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $51,396,000. Rathbones Group PLC raised its holdings in Booking by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 64,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $347,604,000 after purchasing an additional 11,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 56,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $300,364,000 after purchasing an additional 15,053 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 80,351 shares of company stock valued at $13,545,706 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $164.94 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $233.58. The stock has a market cap of $127.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $169.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.06.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BKNG. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Booking from $224.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Booking from $259.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Gordon Haskett increased their target price on Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays set a $210.00 target price on Booking and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Booking from $248.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.14.

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.