J. Stern & Co. LLP Takes $1.83 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

J. Stern & Co. LLP bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 463 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,834,000. Booking accounts for 0.2% of J. Stern & Co. LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,718,390,000 after acquiring an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Booking by 4.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 21,969 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,085,000 after buying an additional 15,303 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in Booking by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after buying an additional 10,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $976,096,000 after buying an additional 9,419 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,064.01 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $137.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,733.04 and a twelve month high of $4,144.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,772.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,729.29.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $37.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKNG. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America cut their price target on Booking from $3,950.00 to $3,750.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,064.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.