Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 86,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $468,252,000. Booking accounts for 1.5% of Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. owned 0.27% of Booking as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in Booking by 15.6% during the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted 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 during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 67.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC increased its position in Booking by 339.0% during the 3rd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 180 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covey Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Booking by 1.0% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,027.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5,188.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5,347.54. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $4,096.23 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $83.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total transaction of $80,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 702 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,124. The trade was a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,190,323. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $6,250.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Wedbush upgraded shares of Booking from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Argus boosted their price target on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. BNP Paribas set a $6,100.00 price objective on Booking in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 price objective on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,225.56.

Booking 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.