Public Sector Pension Investment Board Acquires 521 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 10.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,694 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Booking were worth $22,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Booking by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,718,390,000 after purchasing an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Booking by 4.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,865,949,000 after buying an additional 21,969 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Booking by 4.2% during 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 buying an additional 15,303 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in Booking by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,421,069,000 after acquiring an additional 10,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $976,096,000 after acquiring an additional 9,419 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Argus lifted their price target on Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $3,750.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,064.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s 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 owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,064.01 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $137.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a PEG 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $3,772.09 and a 200 day moving average of $3,729.29.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.