Hosking Partners LLP Lowers Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Hosking Partners LLP reduced its stake in Booking Holdings by 11.9%, now holding 13,468 shares, which comprises 2.6% of its portfolio.
• Booking Holdings announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, reflecting a 0.7% yield and a payout ratio of 26.71%.
• The company reported earnings per share of $55.40 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $6.80 billion, marking a 16% year-over-year increase.

Hosking Partners LLP cut its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 11.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,468 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,816 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for 2.6% of Hosking Partners LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Hosking Partners LLP's holdings in Booking were worth $62,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $13,620,154,000 after acquiring an additional 30,054 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 521,609.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $10,887,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,362,892 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,831,499,000 after acquiring an additional 58,357 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 296,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,365,170,000 after acquiring an additional 18,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 285,064 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,416,318,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $6,700.00 target price (up from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $6,000.00 price objective (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,781.04.

Booking Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Booking stock traded up $97.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $5,461.54. 144,486 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 252,019. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5,566.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5,105.18. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,472.50 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41. The stock has a market cap of $177.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. Booking's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $41.90 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total value of $5,769,035.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,633 shares of the company's stock, valued at $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking 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.