Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Bought by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 410 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. First PREMIER Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total value of $82,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,108,500. The trade was a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $5,418.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.60 billion, a PE ratio of 37.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $4,096.23 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $5,524.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $5,297.52.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $50.32 by $5.08. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given 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 yield of 0.7%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BKNG. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho began coverage on Booking in a report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $5,975.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,807.89.

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.