Balentine LLC Sells 25 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Balentine LLC reduced its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 14.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 152 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $516,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 79.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 154,206 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $695,259,000 after acquiring an additional 68,243 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Booking by 182.2% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $482,081,000 after acquiring an additional 67,562 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 27.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 181,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $836,223,000 after acquiring an additional 39,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 19.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 213,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $983,707,000 after acquiring an additional 35,171 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Stock Down 0.0%

Booking stock opened at $5,077.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $164.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5,381.21 and its 200 day moving average is $5,387.76. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. Booking’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $83.39 earnings per share. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is 24.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total transaction of $352,755.20. Following the transaction, 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 at this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,516.92, for a total transaction of $5,588,639.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 23,607 shares in the company, valued at $130,237,930.44. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKNG. Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,121.23.

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.