Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Acquired by Waterloo Capital L.P.

Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 32.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Booking were worth $806,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,620,154,000 after purchasing an additional 30,054 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 854,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,936,132,000 after purchasing an additional 9,333 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Booking by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,706,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Booking by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 296,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,365,170,000 after purchasing an additional 18,268 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Booking by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 226,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,297,331,000 after buying an additional 19,578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total transaction of $75,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,510. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 400 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,007.69, for a total transaction of $2,003,076.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 21,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,922,265.19. This trade represents a 1.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 3,452 shares of company stock valued at $17,987,397 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Gordon Haskett cut their target price on Booking from $5,680.00 to $5,620.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $6,806.00 price target on Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,144.38.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,768.00 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $153.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.99, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5,182.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $5,401.84.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $83.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is 24.96%.

About Booking

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.