Great Lakes Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 110,139 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors initiated a Booking Holdings stake of 110,139 shares valued at approximately $19.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.42% of the company.
• Booking exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.54 in EPS versus a $2.43 consensus estimate and $7.35 billion in revenue, up 8.1% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $235.72, while Booking announced a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, representing a 0.8% yield.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 110,139 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $19,631,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 2,860.8% during the second quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 12,554 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,238,000 after purchasing an additional 12,130 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 1,663.9% in the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 27,071 shares during the period. Rit Capital Partners PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,396,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Booking by 2,643.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 527,425 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $94,008,000 after buying an additional 508,197 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $208.20 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $150.14 and a 52-week high of $231.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $185.74 and a 200-day moving average of $177.06. The company has a market capitalization of $156.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The company's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $55.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking's payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $220.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $266.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.72.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This trade represents a 25.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 140,050 shares of company stock worth $26,341,680 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Booking Company Profile

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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