Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Booking were worth $13,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target 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. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,068.32.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG traded up $35.50 on Wednesday, hitting $3,738.00. The company had a trading volume of 261,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 259,116. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $3,806.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,690.56. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,733.04 and a 12-month high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS 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 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 for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $37.62 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $3,050,737.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 owned by insiders.

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.