Great Lakes Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,812 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $30,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Enterprise Financial Services Corp boosted its position in shares of Booking by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 110 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 358 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,270,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd now owns 863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,061,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in Booking by 0.5% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,264,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Finally, Aspiriant LLC grew its position in Booking by 4.8% during the first quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 65 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $3,750.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Stock Down 1.1 %

BKNG stock traded down $41.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $3,731.35. The company had a trading volume of 283,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,314. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3,773.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,699.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.07 billion, a PE ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,733.04 and a fifty-two week high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $37.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.