Abacus Planning Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Abacus Planning Group Inc. reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 11.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth $816,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 6.7% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $70,837,000 after buying an additional 768 shares during the period. CenterStar Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at about $1,755,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 11.0% in the second quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,260,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank lifted its stake in Booking by 1.8% in the second quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Booking in a report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $5,975.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $6,200.00 target price (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $6,700.00 price objective (up from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,807.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the firm’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 owned 195 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were 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 represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,418.05 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4,096.23 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.68, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5,524.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5,297.52.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. 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.