Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Bought by Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.

Key Points

• Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 30.2% in the second quarter, acquiring an additional 157 shares, bringing their total holdings to $3.92 million.
• Insider transactions included Director Vanessa Ames Wittman and CEO Glenn D. Fogel selling shares, with Fogel's sale totaling $3.21 million and a 2.65% decrease in his ownership.
• Booking Holdings recently declared a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, with a 0.8% yield and a payout ratio of 26.71%.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 677 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Booking were worth $3,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 167 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 56 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 1.6% in the first quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 125 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $576,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Booking by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 238 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total transaction of $79,379.70. Following the sale, the director owned 732 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,873,729.36. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 625 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,141.53, for a total transaction of $3,213,456.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,982 shares of the company's stock, valued at $118,162,642.46. The trade was a 2.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963 in the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Booking Trading Up 2.4%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,070.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.32 billion, a PE ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $5,459.08 and a 200-day moving average of $5,336.87. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $4,096.23 and a 52 week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $41.90 EPS. The business's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $6,200.00 price objective (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. 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 research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,808.81.

Booking Company 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.

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