Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Acquired by BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC

BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 8,087.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,535 shares during the quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 25.0% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its holdings in Booking by 50.0% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 87 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Booking in the second quarter worth approximately $179,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,169,536. The trade was a 6.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total transaction of $10,389,879.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 375,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. This trade represents a 11.77% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial set a $242.00 target price on Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price target on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.45.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $205.63 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $150.14 and a 1-year high of $226.10. The stock has a market cap of $154.51 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $192.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.64.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The company had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $55.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.