Y.D. More Investments Ltd Increases Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 96.3% in Q1, now holding 263 shares valued at $1.21 million.
• CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking's stock for over $5.7 million, reducing his ownership by 3.66%.
• Booking reported Q2 earnings of $55.40 EPS, surpassing expectations, with revenue hitting $6.80 billion—up 16% year-over-year.

Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 96.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd's holdings in Booking were worth $1,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at $41,000. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Booking in the first quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp bought a new stake in Booking in the first quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at $151,674,935. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,536.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $179.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.50, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.41. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,291.80 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The company's 50-day moving average price is $5,573.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $5,087.27.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $41.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 26.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on BKNG shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $5,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price target on Booking and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,781.04.

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.

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