Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Holdings Lifted by Ninety One SA PTY Ltd

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd raised its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 650.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,429 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,839 shares during the period. Booking accounts for 3.7% of Ninety One SA PTY Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd's holdings in Booking were worth $19,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at $217,000. EULAV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Booking by 3.8% during the first quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 2,752 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,678,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 36.1% during the first quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 83 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 16.2% during the first quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 6,818 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,410,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callan Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 20.4% during the first quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 65 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,356.07, for a total transaction of $5,425,698.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,073,911.22. The trade was a 3.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $5,960.00 to $5,557.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $5,540.00 to $4,330.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,415.00.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded down $1.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $5,717.10. 150,915 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 248,704. The stock has a market cap of $186.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.57, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $5,448.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,998.76. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.58 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.58% and a negative return on equity of 143.67%. The business's revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $20.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.89%.

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.