New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 2,655.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,900 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 38,452 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings in Booking were worth $7,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Booking by 9.0% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 817,543 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $145,719,000 after purchasing an additional 67,343 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 2,516.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 23,338 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,160,000 after buying an additional 22,446 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Booking by 2,403.2% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 32,491 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,791,000 after buying an additional 31,193 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 2,350.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,225 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the period. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan grew its stake in shares of Booking by 2,494.4% during the 2nd quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan now owns 230,588 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,100,000 after acquiring an additional 221,700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity
In related news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total value of $10,389,879.50. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,200,000. This represents a 23.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.
Booking Stock Up 1.5%
Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $205.63 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.64. The company has a market cap of $154.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $226.10.
Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $55.40 EPS. Booking's revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.
Booking Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.58%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $220.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $240.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $236.45.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Booking
About Booking
(
Free Report)
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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