Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Acquired by Doliver Advisors LP

Doliver Advisors LP increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2,214.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,008 shares during the quarter. Doliver Advisors LP’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $361,463,000. Rit Capital Partners PLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,396,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $210,352,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Booking by 862.0% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,167,890,000 after acquiring an additional 195,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in Booking by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 64,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $347,604,000 after purchasing an additional 11,042 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 firm’s 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 owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 69,625 shares of company stock valued at $11,652,075. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.72.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $212.87 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $231.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm 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%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $55.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

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.