Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Stake Boosted by Bank of Nova Scotia

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia sharply increased its stake in Booking Holdings during the first quarter, boosting its position by 1,497.3% to 870,520 shares. Booking is now its second-largest holding and makes up about 6% of its portfolio.
• Analysts remain mostly positive but have trimmed price targets after recent research updates. Booking’s consensus rating is still “Moderate Buy,” with a consensus target price of $227.05.
• Booking reported solid quarterly results and pays a dividend, posting EPS of $1.14 and revenue of $5.53 billion, both slightly above expectations. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, equal to a 1.0% annualized yield.

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 1,497.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 870,520 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 816,022 shares during the quarter. Booking makes up about 6.0% of Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.11% of Booking worth $3,665,168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Osbon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Booking from $248.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Booking from $230.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Barclays set a $210.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Booking from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $227.05.

Booking Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $172.83 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $231.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.12. The stock has a market cap of $133.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The firm's revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 22.11%.

About Booking

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.

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