National Pension Service Acquires 2,162 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. by 3.1% in Q1, now owning approximately 71,467 shares valued at $329.24 million.
• Booking Holdings reported a quarterly earnings per share of $55.40, exceeding estimates of $50.32 while revenues climbed to $6.80 billion, up 16% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 to be paid on September 30th, reflecting a yield of 0.7% with a payout ratio of 26.71%.

National Pension Service lifted its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,467 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,162 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.22% of Booking worth $329,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in Booking during the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. Mechanics Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's 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 $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna raised their price target on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Erste Group Bank raised Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised Booking to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $6,700.00 price objective (up previously from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Ten investment 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,781.04.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG traded down $30.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5,454.29. The company had a trading volume of 157,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,535. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5,562.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $5,115.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.41. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,592.28 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during 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%. Booking's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $41.90 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. 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%.

About Booking

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.