Weaver Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Weaver Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 102.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 307 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 155 shares during the quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after purchasing an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 4.5% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of Booking by 3.1% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,421,069,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 29.2% during the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $702,049,000 after purchasing an additional 43,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Booking by 22.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 159,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $584,492,000 after purchasing an additional 28,904 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $3,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, August 5th. B. Riley reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,133.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,377.78 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,015.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,835.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,733.04 and a 12 month high of $4,395.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. Booking’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $37.62 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.50%.

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.