Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 49 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 5.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 967 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Booking were worth $3,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Booking by 31.6% during the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 437 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 30.9% during the second quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 161 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Anfield Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 333.3% during the second quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 13 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 9.4% in the second quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 0.6% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,644,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. Barclays lowered their target price on Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,850.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,073.38.

Booking Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $3,799.21 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,733.04 and a 1-year high of $4,144.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $3,782.84 and a 200-day moving average of $3,699.13. The firm has a market cap of $127.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $37.62 EPS. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Booking Profile

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.