Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 52 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its stake in Booking by 37.8% in the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 226 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $895,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,372,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Booking by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 3,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,111,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co increased its position in Booking by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 1,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,267,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in Booking by 195.3% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $23,481,000 after buying an additional 4,047 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,064.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was 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 this hyperlink. In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s 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 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 insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,028.30 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,733.04 and a 1-year high of $4,144.32. The company has a market cap of $135.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $3,769.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,718.87.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $37.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

About Booking

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.