Ascent Group LLC Sells 24 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Ascent Group LLC trimmed its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 299 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 24 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,620,154,000 after acquiring an additional 30,054 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Booking by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,706,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,699 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Booking by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 296,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,365,170,000 after acquiring an additional 18,268 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Booking by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,655,000 after buying an additional 8,015 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd increased its position in Booking by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 218,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,262,147,000 after buying an additional 2,418 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $6,000.00 price target (up from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6,200.00 price target (up from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,807.89.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total transaction of $352,755.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total value of $82,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,108,500. The trade was a 1.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,195 shares of company stock worth $23,467,630 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,418.05 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5,524.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5,302.42. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $175.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.68, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.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 previous year, the company posted $41.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Booking 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.