Aberdeen Group plc Increases Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 5.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.08% of Booking worth $155,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the first quarter worth about $28,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth about $35,000. First PREMIER Bank lifted 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 worth $35,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,750.00 target price (up previously from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Susquehanna upped their target price 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, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,808.81.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total value of $352,755.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $722,045.80. This represents a 32.82% 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 stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,237,930.44. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 0.5%

BKNG opened at $5,164.93 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $4,096.23 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41. The company has a market capitalization of $167.40 billion, a PE ratio of 35.92, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $5,492.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5,317.27.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Booking 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.