Balentine LLC Purchases New Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Balentine LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 183 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $771,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,322,600,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Booking by 4,565.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 62,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $227,143,000 after purchasing an additional 61,268 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $702,049,000 after buying an additional 43,743 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 106.0% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 71,334 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $282,590,000 after buying an additional 36,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Booking by 2,315.8% during the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 36,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,755,000 after buying an additional 35,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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 report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $5,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,729.14.

Booking Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,914.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $162.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.38. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,888.45 and a 52-week high of $4,916.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4,177.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,907.03.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 23.75%.

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.