Trust Point Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Trust Point Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2,418.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,764 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,416 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,997,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,055,006,000 after buying an additional 23,159 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,435,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,685,520,000 after acquiring an additional 6,976 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Booking by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 966,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,173,899,000 after purchasing an additional 128,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of Booking by 1,497.3% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 870,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,665,168,000 after purchasing an additional 816,022 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Booking

Here are the key news stories impacting Booking this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly results exceeded expectations: Booking reported adjusted earnings of $2.54 per share, above the $2.43 consensus estimate, while revenue increased 8.1% year over year to $7.35 billion, surpassing forecasts of $7.19 billion. The results suggested resilient travel demand and helped support the stock’s advance.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism strengthened: UBS raised its price target to $274, while Wedbush, Benchmark and BTIG maintained bullish ratings with targets ranging from $247 to $250. The analyst actions reinforce expectations for additional upside following the earnings report. Booking Given New Price Target at UBS Group
• Positive Sentiment: Longer-term growth initiatives remain supportive: Management cited early benefits from artificial-intelligence personalization, cost savings and its connected-trip strategy, potentially improving efficiency and expanding customer engagement. Is Booking Holdings a Buying Opportunity?
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend provides modest shareholder support: Booking declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, payable September 30 to shareholders of record September 11. The annualized yield of approximately 0.8% is unlikely to materially change the investment case.
• Neutral Sentiment: Director sale was scheduled in advance: Director Robert Mylod Jr. sold 1,000 shares for $206,700 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. He continues to own 15,000 shares, limiting the significance of the transaction as a bearish signal. Booking Director Stock Sale
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term outlook is less robust: Investors remain cautious about soft third-quarter revenue guidance, moderating room-night growth and marketing expenses rising faster than revenue. Competition from Google, geopolitical uncertainty and technically overbought conditions could limit further gains after the recent rally. Why Analysts Are Bullish on Booking

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $236.00 target price (up from $225.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $220.00 price target on Booking and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.69.

Booking Stock Up 3.4%

BKNG stock opened at $214.42 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $179.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.77. The stock has a market cap of $161.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $150.14 and a 52-week high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $55.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.33 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,200,000. This trade represents a 23.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 69,625 shares of company stock worth $11,652,075 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.