Highland Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Highland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 532 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,080,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank increased its position in Booking by 100.0% during the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $6,200.00 price target (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Booking in a research report on Monday, September 29th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $5,975.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 price target (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $6,250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,807.89.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,418.05 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $4,096.23 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $175.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,524.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5,302.42.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $41.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,587.11, for a total transaction of $357,575.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,089,486.45. This represents a 24.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,841,031.80. This trade represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.