Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Aptus Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 31.2%, now holding 278 shares valued at approximately $1.28 million.
• CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company, resulting in a nearly 4% decrease in his ownership, with total ownership now valued at around $134.8 million.
• Booking Holdings reported Q2 earnings exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $6.80 billion and earnings per share of $55.40, indicating a year-over-year revenue increase of 16%.

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 31.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 278 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Booking were worth $1,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth $32,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth $41,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Finally, North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BKNG. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $6,000.00 price target (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price objective on Booking and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $5,750.00 price objective (up from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,781.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 24,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,841,031.80. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 4,052 shares of company stock worth $22,511,858 over the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock traded up $10.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $5,720.87. 195,538 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 209,657. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,700.97 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.41 billion, a PE ratio of 39.79, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $5,577.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5,155.63.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $41.90 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Booking's payout ratio is currently 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.