Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Bought by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $5,349,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. 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 worth $10,718,390,000 after buying an additional 12,456 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Booking by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after acquiring an additional 21,969 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its position in shares of Booking by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,421,069,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the third quarter worth about $5,322,600,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Booking by 15.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 106,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $420,865,000 after buying an additional 13,908 shares in 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 several research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $5,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush increased their price target on Booking from $3,900.00 to $4,750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,560.00 to $4,900.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued 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 a consensus price target of $4,749.83.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,970.98 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,079.50 and a 1 year high of $5,069.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $4,311.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3,966.44. The firm has a market cap of $164.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.38.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking 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 transaction of $388,761.00. Following 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 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.