Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Takes $51.58 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Manning & Napier Advisors acquired 282,773 Booking Holdings shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $51.58 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.42% of BKNG.
• Booking reported quarterly revenue of $7.35 billion and earnings of $2.54 per share, exceeding analyst estimates, while revenue increased 8.1% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $236.45.
• Booking declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, representing a 0.8% yield, while company insiders sold 77,550 shares worth approximately $16.1 million over the past three months under pre-arranged trading plans.

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 282,773 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $51,581,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth about $11,687,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its stake in Booking by 2,860.8% during the 2nd 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 period. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 1,663.9% in the 2nd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 27,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rit Capital Partners PLC bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,396,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.09. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $230.98.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Booking's payout ratio is 18.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Booking from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $274.00 price target (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $236.45.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total value of $10,389,879.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 375,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. This trade represents a 11.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 Booking stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This represents a 25.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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