Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc Makes New $16.77 Million Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 93,349 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $16,768,000. Booking accounts for 3.6% of Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commerce Bank purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth approximately $65,266,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in Booking in the second quarter worth approximately $3,717,000. CFO4Life Group LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth $920,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth $98,000. Finally, Evolve Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at $455,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,000. This trade represents a 23.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 140,050 shares of company stock worth $26,341,680. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $266.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.72.

Booking Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $209.62 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $150.14 and a 12-month high of $231.80.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

Booking Company Profile

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.