Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by First Bank & Trust

First Bank & Trust lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 144 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Booking were worth $834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Elequin Capital LP grew its position in shares of Booking by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 12 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Booking by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 167 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. WNY Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 3.7% during the first quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 56 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 125 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $576,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 0.5% during the first quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,750.00 target price (up from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,808.81.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,476.89, for a total transaction of $5,548,089.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares in the company, valued at $134,841,031.80. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,587.11, for a total transaction of $357,575.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,089,486.45. This represents a 24.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,103 shares of company stock worth $17,443,735 in the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,559.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $180.19 billion, a PE ratio of 38.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5,588.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5,221.64. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,930.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $41.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect 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 will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.71%.

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.