Temasek Holdings Private Ltd Raises Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 933.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,739 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd owned 0.08% of Booking worth $134,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Booking by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,249,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Booking by 25.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its position in Booking by 50.0% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 87 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Booking in the second quarter worth approximately $179,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $174.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $135.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.08. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $233.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $169.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.99.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on BKNG. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Booking from $256.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $248.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Booking and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 80,351 shares of company stock worth $13,545,706. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Profile

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.