Empowered Funds LLC Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 373,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,565,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Booking by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $955,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its holdings in Booking by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 87 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth $179,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total value of $206,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,100,500. This represents a 6.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.00, for a total value of $79,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,404,063. This trade represents a 2.27% 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. Insiders sold a total of 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial set a $242.00 price objective on Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Booking from $211.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.45.

Booking Stock Down 3.0%

Booking stock opened at $202.56 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $150.14 and a 52-week high of $226.63.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 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.