Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Buys 77 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 23.1%, acquiring an additional 77 shares during the second quarter, bringing its total holdings to 410 shares worth $2,374,000.
• Booking reported earnings of $55.40 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates, with revenues of $6.80 billion, up 16.0% year-over-year.
• The company has recently declared a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 0.7%.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 23.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 410 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Booking were worth $2,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 27.6% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 185 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $852,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at about $246,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at about $221,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,418.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5,524.95 and a 200 day moving average of $5,297.52. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,096.23 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Booking's payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,476.89, for a total value of $5,548,089.57. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,587.11, for a total value 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 sold a total of 4,195 shares of company stock worth $23,467,630 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BKNG. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price objective on Booking and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho began coverage on Booking in a research report on Monday. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $5,975.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $5,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,807.89.

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.

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