Bridges Investment Management Inc. Acquires 261 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 105.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 509 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after buying an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after acquiring an additional 21,969 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Booking by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,085,000 after acquiring an additional 15,303 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its position in Booking by 3.1% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $976,096,000 after purchasing an additional 9,419 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,497.00 to $3,976.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $3,590.00 price target for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,064.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,064.01 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $2,733.04 and a one year high of $4,144.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $3,772.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,725.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $37.62 EPS. Analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.