Swedbank AB Buys 3,175 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 8.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,175 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Booking were worth $169,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted 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 valued at $15,171,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,271,041,000. HF Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 28,353.8% in the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,094,083,000 after purchasing an additional 203,580 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in Booking by 862.0% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,167,890,000 after purchasing an additional 195,411 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Booking by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 966,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,173,899,000 after purchasing an additional 128,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,269,532.64. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 80,351 shares of company stock worth $13,545,706. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $1.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $182.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,272,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,991,408. The business’s 50 day moving average is $168.53 and its 200-day moving average is $181.33. The company has a market cap of $141.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $214.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. HSBC cut their price objective on shares of Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $248.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.11.

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.