Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC Buys 200 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for about 1.2% of Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $5,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after purchasing an additional 12,456 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,865,949,000 after buying an additional 21,969 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth about $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,085,000 after acquiring an additional 15,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in Booking by 3.1% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after acquiring an additional 10,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Booking from $3,950.00 to $3,750.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Booking from $4,025.00 to $3,860.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,064.21.

Insider Transactions at Booking

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

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $3,731.35 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,733.04 and a fifty-two week high of $4,144.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,773.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,699.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted 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 the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $37.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Booking Profile

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.