Should You Now Consider Disposing Your Booking Holdings (BKNG) Position?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Large Cap Growth Strategy” first quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy underperformed its Russell 1000 Growth Index benchmark during the first quarter. On an absolute basis, the Strategy suffered losses across seven of the eight sectors in which it was invested (out of 11 sectors total). The leading detractors of performance were in the communication services and information technology (IT) sectors, while the financials sector was a contributor. Try to spend some time taking a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to be informed about their best picks for 2022.

In its Q1 2022 investor letter, ClearBridge Investments Large Cap Growth Strategy mentioned Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1996, Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)  is a Norwalk, Connecticut-based travel technology company with a $91.0 billion market capitalization. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)  delivered a -7.17% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -8.46%. The stock closed at $2,227.29 per share on April 15, 2022.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments Large Cap Growth Strategy has to say about Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Other actions during the quarter included the sale of consumer name Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG). We sold Booking, the owner of online travel agencies Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak, due to its higher exposure to Europe where we believe a rebound in travel will be slowed by the spillover effects of the Ukraine invasion on consumer spending.”

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Our calculations show that Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) ranks 25th on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was in 92 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 96 funds in the previous quarter. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) delivered a -9.42% return in the past 3 months.

In April 2022, we published an article that includes Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q1 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.