VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Acquires New Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 401,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $71,579,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Strategic Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Booking by 2,210.4% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 9,328 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the second quarter valued at about $876,316,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Booking by 419,256.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 214,651,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,259,498,000 after buying an additional 214,600,394 shares during the period. Greenland Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth about $379,000. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 2,273.3% during the second quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 178,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,862,000 after buying an additional 171,226 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $193.29 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $194.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.60. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $226.10.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $55.40 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 18.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $266.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 target price on Booking and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Vanessa Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director directly owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 Booking stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This trade represents a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 81,550 shares of company stock worth $16,922,744 over the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.