Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Has $256.51 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 64,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,294 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for 0.9% of Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.19% of Booking worth $256,507,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,718,390,000 after buying an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased 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 valued at $1,865,949,000 after buying an additional 21,969 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,085,000 after buying an additional 15,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of Booking by 3.1% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after buying an additional 10,889 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BKNG. Benchmark lowered their target price on Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Booking from $4,025.00 to $3,860.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $41.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $3,731.35. 283,139 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 257,314. The stock has a market cap of $125.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,733.04 and a fifty-two week high of $4,144.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $3,773.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3,699.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The business 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 was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $37.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Booking

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.