First National Bank of Omaha Invests $4.30 Million in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

First National Bank of Omaha acquired a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 24,013 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,297,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 112 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 13 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in shares of Booking by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,019,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its position in shares of Booking by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 53 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings raised Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler reissued 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. Finally, Truist Financial set a $242.00 target price on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.72.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $208.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $185.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The company had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $55.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,618,327.82. The trade was 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. Insiders have sold a total of 140,050 shares of company stock valued at $26,341,680 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.