Empowered Funds LLC Acquires New Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 373,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,565,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Osbon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BKNG. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $236.00 price objective (up from $225.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday. One research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.45.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total value of $206,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,100,500. The trade was a 6.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.00, for a total transaction of $79,125.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,404,063. This trade represents a 2.27% 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 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $202.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.49. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $226.63.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $55.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

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.