Bellecapital International Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Bellecapital International Ltd. reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 4.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. Booking makes up 2.9% of Bellecapital International Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Bellecapital International Ltd.’s holdings in Booking were worth $17,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in Booking by 15.6% in the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 18.6% during the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 75,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $437,284,000 after acquiring an additional 11,829 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 67.3% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $174,893,000 after purchasing an additional 12,148 shares during the period. Covey Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% in the second quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in Booking by 12.7% in the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,262,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $5,433.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,149.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,570,000. The trade was a 11.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,414.53, for a total value of $3,091,696.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 21,010 shares in the company, valued at $113,759,275.30. The trade was a 2.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557 over the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,440.14 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5,107.58 and a 200 day moving average of $5,370.87. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,096.23 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.25.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $83.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 24.96%.

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.