Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 265 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Booking were worth $105,474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at $32,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,075.86 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,096.23 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $5,406.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5,386.27. The stock has a market cap of $164.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.99, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 129.67%. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $83.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $722,045.80. This represents a 32.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was 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 approximately $130,237,930.44. The trade was a 4.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,443.00 to $5,523.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,132.29.

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.