Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Decreases Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC decreased its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 9.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 374 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the first quarter worth $32,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the second quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank raised its position in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6,000.00 price objective (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,807.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,587.11, for a total value of $357,575.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 195 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,486.45. This trade represents a 24.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,476.89, for a total transaction of $5,548,089.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares in the company, valued at $134,841,031.80. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 1.4%

BKNG stock opened at $5,424.55 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $5,529.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $5,290.99. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4,060.98 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41. The stock has a market cap of $175.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.73, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $41.90 EPS. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 26.71%.

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.