Flputnam Investment Management Co. Increases Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. by 6.1% during Q1, owning a total of 5,534 shares valued at approximately $25.5 million.
• Several hedge funds have made significant changes to their positions in Booking, with 92.42% of the stock owned by institutional investors, indicating strong interest in the company.
• Booking announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, scheduled to be paid on September 30th, representing a 0.7% yield.

Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,534 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 317 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Booking were worth $25,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in Booking by 300.0% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 8 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Booking during the first quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth about $41,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price objective on Booking and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,781.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were 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. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 4,052 shares of company stock valued at $22,511,858 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,599.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5,612.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5,181.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.41. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,700.97 and a fifty-two 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 for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $41.90 EPS. Booking's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

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