Catalina Capital Group LLC Takes $486,000 Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Catalina Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $486,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Booking by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,734 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,362,000 after buying an additional 15,381 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $976,096,000 after buying an additional 9,419 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Booking by 22.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 159,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $584,492,000 after buying an additional 28,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its position in Booking by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 152,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $540,955,000 after buying an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total transaction of $812,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,157,314.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total value of $812,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,157,314.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total transaction of $78,827.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $756,027.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,021 shares of company stock valued at $3,617,852 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BKNG. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC boosted their price objective on Booking from $4,220.00 to $4,230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Argus boosted their price objective on Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $4,400.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,914.00.

Booking Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $12.57 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $3,990.05. 159,027 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 251,056. The company has a market capitalization of $135.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,733.04 and a 1-year high of $4,040.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $3,820.18 and its 200-day moving average is $3,648.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $11.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

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.