Fort L.P. Reduces Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Fort L.P. lowered its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6 shares during the period. Booking makes up about 0.8% of Fort L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Fort L.P.’s holdings in Booking were worth $303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the third quarter worth $5,322,600,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 4,565.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 62,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,143,000 after buying an additional 61,268 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased 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 worth $702,049,000 after buying an additional 43,743 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 106.0% in the second 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 increased its stake in shares of Booking by 2,315.8% in the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 36,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,755,000 after buying an additional 35,270 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $5,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,250.00 to $4,800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,050.00 to $5,550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, 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 price objective for the company. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,680.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 1.6 %

Booking stock traded up $72.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $4,749.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 519,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 182,676. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $4,136.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,883.88. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,756.39 and a 12 month high of $4,856.60. The company has a market capitalization of $157.20 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.38.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 166.06% and a net margin of 21.85%. The business’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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.79 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 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.