OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Acquires Shares of 12,500 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 12,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,228,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Booking during the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Booking and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $236.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated 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. One analyst has 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, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.72.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $209.87 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $187.71 and a 200-day moving average of $177.15. The company has a market capitalization of $157.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $55.40 earnings per share. Booking’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,200,000. This trade represents a 23.81% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,050 shares of company stock worth $26,341,680. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.