LRI Investments LLC Increases Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3,950.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 81 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.3% in the first quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 894 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,243,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its stake in Booking by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 164 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Van Leeuwen & Company LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Van Leeuwen & Company LLC now owns 487 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in Booking by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 352 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Enterprise Financial Services Corp increased its stake in Booking by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 110 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America cut their target price on 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Booking from $3,497.00 to $3,976.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Eight 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,068.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Booking Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of BKNG opened at $3,830.58 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $3,801.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,693.19. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,733.04 and a 52 week high of $4,144.32. The stock has a market cap of $129.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $37.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.25%.

Booking Company 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.