United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 114,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,368,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth about $11,687,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 2,860.8% in the 2nd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 12,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,238,000 after acquiring an additional 12,130 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1,663.9% in the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 27,071 shares during the period. Finally, Rit Capital Partners PLC acquired a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,396,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $202.56 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $191.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.49. The company has a market capitalization of $152.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $226.63.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $55.40 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total transaction of $206,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,100,500. This trade represents a 6.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This represents a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $274.00 price target (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $188.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.45.

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.