Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Raises Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Liontrust Investment Partners LLP increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 7.1%, holding a total of 4,373 shares valued at approximately $20.15 million.
• Booking reported earnings per share of $55.40, exceeding analysts' expectations and achieving a revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, up 16% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60, which reflects a 0.7% dividend yield, with the ex-dividend date set for September 5th.

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP lifted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 7.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,373 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's holdings in Booking were worth $20,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Mechanics Financial Corp bought a new position in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on BKNG. 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 report on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. JMP Securities increased their price target on Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Booking Stock Up 0.9%

BKNG stock traded up $51.1150 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $5,635.1950. The company's stock had a trading volume of 58,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 248,427. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,683.14 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The company has a market capitalization of $182.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.41. The company's fifty day moving average is $5,560.61 and its 200-day moving average is $5,134.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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. Analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,841,031.80. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,052 shares of company stock valued at $22,511,858. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

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.