Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Increases Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 38.5%, owning 17,685 shares after purchasing an additional 4,920 shares in the first quarter.
• Booking Holdings recently reported earnings per share of $55.40 for the quarter, exceeding consensus estimates of $50.32, and recorded a year-over-year revenue increase of 16.0%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, which will be paid on September 30, with a current dividend yield of 0.7%.

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 38.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,685 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,920 shares during the period. Booking accounts for approximately 0.8% of Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of Booking worth $81,473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 521,609.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $516,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Booking by 182.2% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $482,081,000 after purchasing an additional 67,562 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Booking by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,831,499,000 after purchasing an additional 58,357 shares during the period. Finally, Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 88,754 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $440,967,000 after buying an additional 50,605 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $6,200.00 target price (up from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities raised their target price on Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $6,700.00 price target (up previously from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total value of $5,769,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 3,039 shares of company stock worth $16,963,769 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Booking Stock Down 2.1%

NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $117.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $5,386.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 199,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 194,527. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5,568.80 and a 200-day moving average of $5,077.69. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.57 billion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $41.90 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking's payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

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.