Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Boosts Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 69.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 868 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Booking were worth $4,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Booking by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,836,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in Booking by 6.4% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 265 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,431,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in Booking by 4.2% during the third quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 9,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,767,000 after buying an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 9.6% in the third quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 160 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $861,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the third quarter valued at $179,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $5,098.50 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,096.23 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $5,191.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5,334.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.32 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 953 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,181.34, for a total transaction of $4,937,817.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 19,615 shares in the company, valued at $101,631,984.10. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,191.15, for a total value of $77,867.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,566,320.05. This trade represents a 2.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,190,323. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on BKNG. Bank of America upgraded Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $6,100.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, November 24th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,700.00 to $6,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,209.94.

Booking 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.