Townsend & Associates Inc Boosts Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Townsend & Associates Inc lifted its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,761 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Booking were worth $13,216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 403 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,158,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 642 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 112 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Booking by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lakewood Asset Management LLC raised its position in Booking by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 655 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,508,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on BKNG shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $220.00 price target on Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One 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 company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,200,000. This trade represents a 23.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. This trade 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 90 days, insiders have sold 89,625 shares of company stock worth $15,872,675. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $212.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $231.80. The company’s fifty day moving average is $184.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.04.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued 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 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 the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $55.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.