Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Stake Lifted by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $52,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $516,900,000 after buying an additional 104,780 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 68,243 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised 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 purchasing an additional 67,562 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in 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 valued at $836,223,000 after buying an additional 39,523 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Booking by 19.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 213,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $983,707,000 after buying an additional 35,171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,164.93 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5,492.50 and a 200-day moving average of $5,325.09. 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 capitalization of $167.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $41.90 earnings per share. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total value of $82,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 747 shares in the company, valued at $4,108,500. The trade was a 1.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6,700.00 target price (up from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,808.81.

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.