Rovida Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 2,500 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Rovida Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,447,000. Booking makes up 2.7% of Rovida Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,620,154,000 after purchasing an additional 30,054 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,706,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Booking by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 296,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,365,170,000 after buying an additional 18,268 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Booking by 9.5% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 226,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,297,331,000 after buying an additional 19,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 3.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,655,000 after buying an additional 8,015 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,800,000. This represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,570,000. This represents a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,437 shares of company stock worth $18,460,963. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,050.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4,096.23 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5,289.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5,414.69.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $83.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 price target on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 price target (up from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,121.23.

Booking Company 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.