Headlands Technologies LLC Takes $1.40 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Headlands Technologies LLC invested approximately $1.40 million in Booking Holdings Inc. in the 1st quarter, acquiring 303 shares of the stock.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Booking Holdings, with estimates ranging from $6,000 to $6,300, indicating a strong confidence in the company's performance.
• Booking recently announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60, translating to an annualized dividend of $38.40, reflecting a payout ratio of 26.71%.

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 303 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,396,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 3,193 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $15,320,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Finally, DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $497,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BKNG. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $6,000.00 price target (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $6,200.00 price target (up from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 26,633 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $151,674,935. The trade was a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $26.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5,405.91. The stock had a trading volume of 186,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 199,192. The business's 50 day moving average is $5,569.71 and its 200-day moving average is $5,099.02. The company has a market cap of $175.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.41. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $50.32 by $5.08. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $41.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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