Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Has $983.71 Million Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 19.7%, acquiring an additional 35,171 shares, bringing its total ownership to 213,529 shares, valued at approximately $983.7 million.
• Several analysts have raised price targets for Booking, with new targets ranging from $5,650 to $6,250, indicating a strong outlook for the stock.
• Booking announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, with a yield of 0.7%, payable on September 30th to investors of record.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 19.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 213,529 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 35,171 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.66% of Booking worth $983,707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,249,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 11,366 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $55,398,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 125.8% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 35,467 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $176,217,000 after purchasing an additional 19,763 shares during the period. Finally, Abacus FCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of several research reports. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $6,200.00 price target (up from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $5,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,781.04.

Booking Stock Down 0.5%

Booking stock traded down $26.19 on Friday, hitting $5,405.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 186,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 199,192. The firm has a market cap of $175.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $5,569.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $5,099.02. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,394.85 and a one year high of $5,839.41.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

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.