Centaurus Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 5,684 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 5,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,013,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its position in Booking by 3,475.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 143 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 3,550.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 146 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Booking during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Booking from $211.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.45.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $202.56 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $226.63. The firm has a market cap of $152.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $191.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.49.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $55.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.58%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares in the company, valued at $12,618,327.82. The trade was a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total transaction of $10,389,879.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 375,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. The trade was a 11.77% 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 quarter, insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.