Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Purchased by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC raised its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $30,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 grew its stake in shares of Booking by 4.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 21,969 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased 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 acquiring an additional 10,889 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 29.2% in the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $702,049,000 after acquiring an additional 43,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Booking by 22.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 159,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $584,492,000 after purchasing an additional 28,904 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,976.00 to $4,173.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $3,590.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price target on the stock. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,092.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $388,761.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock opened at $4,297.42 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $3,885.93 and a 200-day moving average of $3,798.34. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $2,733.04 and a one year high of $4,328.54.

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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $37.62 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Booking 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.