M&G PLC Sells 186 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

M&G PLC decreased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 756 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 186 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $4,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in Booking by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.4% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 78 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 3.1% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 623 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,870,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,141.53, for a total value of $3,213,456.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $118,162,642.46. This trade represents a 2.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,570,000. The trade was a 11.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,424 shares of company stock valued at $12,912,874. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 1.9%

BKNG opened at $5,075.61 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5,270.88 and a 200 day moving average of $5,410.67. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $163.61 billion, a PE ratio of 32.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $83.39 earnings per share. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on BKNG shares. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday. Gordon Haskett reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $5,680.00 to $5,620.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6,250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $6,806.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,121.23.

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.