SFE Investment Counsel Acquires Shares of 40 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

SFE Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 40 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Booking by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,958,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in Booking by 18.6% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 75,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $437,284,000 after purchasing an additional 11,829 shares in the last quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Booking by 1.0% in the second quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in Booking by 12.7% during the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,262,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Booking by 20.0% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,090,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $6,250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price target on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,121.23.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,516.92, for a total value of $5,588,639.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,237,930.44. This represents a 4.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total transaction of $79,379.70. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,873,729.36. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,940.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $159.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $4,096.23 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41. The business’s fifty day moving average is $5,311.14 and its 200 day moving average is $5,407.51.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.96%.

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.