Norges Bank Invests $3.27 Billion in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 610,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,271,041,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 79 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Eurizon SLJ Capital Ltd bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $450,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $210,352,000. Zhang Financial LLC lifted its position in Booking by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 510 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac acquired a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth $3,730,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $167.38 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $170.45 and its 200-day moving average is $186.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $233.58. The company has a market capitalization of $129.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This trade represents a 6.55% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,076 shares of company stock worth $16,417,121. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Gordon Haskett lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Booking from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $246.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Booking from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.