Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 30.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Booking were worth $20,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cortland Associates Inc. MO lifted its position in Booking by 0.3% in the third quarter. Cortland Associates Inc. MO now owns 10,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,217,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,193,000 after acquiring an additional 5 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 50 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 21.3% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $583,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 463.6% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 682 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,683,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Seaport Global Securities boosted their target price on Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Gordon Haskett boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,620.00 to $5,710.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 target price on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,179.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 571 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,414.53, for a total transaction of $3,091,696.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,759,275.30. The trade was a 2.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at $7,570,000. This trade represents a 11.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,445.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $175.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $5,149.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5,373.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $4,096.23 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The business had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $83.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

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.