Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Bought by Assetmark Inc.

Key Points

• Assetmark Inc. has increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 11.6%, owning shares valued at approximately $25.85 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Booking reported earnings of $24.81 per share, significantly exceeding the consensus estimate of $17.57, with a revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.68% and a payout ratio of 23.89%.

Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 11.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,611 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 584 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in Booking were worth $25,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking during the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. B. Riley boosted their price target on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Booking to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,658.81.

Booking Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of BKNG stock traded up $51.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $5,642.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 164,086 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,382. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.59 billion, a PE ratio of 35.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $5,558.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5,061.42. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 143.67% and a net margin of 22.58%. The firm's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $41.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Booking's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at $151,674,935. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Booking

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.