Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Has $11.33 Million Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd reduced its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. by 7.9%, owning 2,463 shares valued at approximately $11.33 million after selling 212 shares in the first quarter.
• Booking Holdings reported earnings per share of $24.81 for the last quarter, significantly exceeding the consensus estimate of $17.57, with revenues reaching $4.76 billion.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Booking Holdings, with target prices ranging from $5,500 to $6,100, suggesting optimism about the stock's future performance.

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lowered its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 7.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,463 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 212 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd's holdings in Booking were worth $11,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 521,609.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Booking by 1,411.9% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $516,900,000 after buying an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted 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 worth $482,081,000 after buying an additional 67,562 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Booking by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,831,499,000 after buying an additional 58,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Winslow Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Booking by 132.7% during the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 88,754 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $440,967,000 after buying an additional 50,605 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BKNG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities increased their price objective on 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Booking from $5,800.00 to $5,650.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Booking Trading Down 2.1%

BKNG traded down $117.77 on Friday, hitting $5,386.29. 199,536 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 184,546. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.57 billion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $5,568.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5,074.51.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $41.90 EPS. The company's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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