Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Raises Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2,195.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,627 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,164 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in Booking by 191,965.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1,497.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 870,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,665,168,000 after buying an additional 816,022 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 66,209.8% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 659,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,600,000 after buying an additional 658,788 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 2,548.6% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 649,602 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $115,785,000 after buying an additional 625,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $3,271,041,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The sale 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, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,000. This trade represents a 23.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 89,625 shares of company stock worth $15,872,675. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Barclays set a $210.00 price target on Booking and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Booking and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $245.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $236.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $212.06 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $184.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.04. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $231.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $55.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.