Haverford Trust Co Invests $646,000 in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Haverford Trust Co bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $646,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in Booking by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its stake in Booking by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 53 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 246 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. HSBC reduced their price objective on Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Evercore set a $245.00 target price on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.00, for a total transaction of $79,125.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,404,063. The trade was a 2.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,618,327.82. This represents a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 140,050 shares of company stock worth $26,341,680 over the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock opened at $209.62 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $231.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $188.60 and a 200-day moving average of $177.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $55.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.