Sapient Capital LLC Grows Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Sapient Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Booking comprises about 0.9% of Sapient Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $57,956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in shares of Booking by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 11,829 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 67.3% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $174,893,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 1.0% in the second 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. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in shares of Booking by 12.7% during the second 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. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,440.14 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,107.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5,370.87. The stock has a market cap of $175.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.25. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $83.39 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,800,000. The trade was a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total value of $75,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,510. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas set a $6,100.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Seaport Global Securities upped their price target 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. UBS Group set a $6,806.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $6,000.00 target price on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,149.23.

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.