Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd Takes $361.46 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Booking Holdings, buying 67,496 shares worth about $361.5 million. The position makes up 2.5% of its portfolio and 0.21% of Booking’s shares outstanding.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with 92.42% of Booking stock held by hedge funds and other institutions. Several other funds also sharply increased their holdings in the company during recent quarters.
• Booking reported solid quarterly results and a dividend: EPS of $1.14 beat estimates, and revenue rose 16.2% year over year to $5.53 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, payable June 30, for an annualized yield of about 1.0%.

Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 67,496 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $361,463,000. Booking accounts for 2.5% of Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd owned about 0.21% of Booking as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. HF Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 28,353.8% in the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,094,083,000 after purchasing an additional 203,580 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 61.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 215,871 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,165,546,000 after purchasing an additional 82,326 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 8,004.7% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 70,430 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $377,176,000 after purchasing an additional 69,561 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. increased its position in Booking by 4,137.1% in the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 49,277 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $266,060,000 after buying an additional 48,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Booking by 768.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 32,932 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $177,809,000 after buying an additional 29,139 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at $3,081,600. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 34,576 shares of company stock valued at $6,187,746 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore set a $245.00 target price on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Gordon Haskett boosted their target price on Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Susquehanna set a $260.00 target price on Booking in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on Booking from $244.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $227.14.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $161.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $171.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.10. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Booking's payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

About Booking

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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