Baillie Gifford & Co. Reduces Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Baillie Gifford & Co. reduced its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 31.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,058 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,391 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Booking were worth $16,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sachetta LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 28.6% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 9 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Canopy Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the second quarter. Canopy Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.6% during the second quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,113,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 370 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Finally, UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 46 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $6,806.00 price objective on shares of Booking and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,209.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 953 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,181.34, for a total transaction of $4,937,817.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 19,615 shares in the company, valued at $101,631,984.10. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $7,570,000. This trade represents a 11.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,190,323. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,098.50 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $5,191.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $5,337.30. The firm has a market cap of $164.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $83.39 EPS. Analysts forecast 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 was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.