Longview Partners Guernsey LTD Reduces Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Longview Partners Guernsey LTD decreased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. by 13.3%, now owning approximately $614.94 million worth of stock, which constitutes about 4.9% of its portfolio.
• Booking's recent EPS was $55.40, surpassing expectations, with a revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, marking a 16% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, contributing to an annualized yield of 0.7% for shareholders with a record date of September 5th.

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD cut its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 13.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 133,481 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 20,402 shares during the quarter. Booking makes up about 4.9% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD owned about 0.41% of Booking worth $614,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Elequin Capital LP increased its position in shares of Booking by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 12 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Booking by 1.2% in the first 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 position in Booking by 3.7% in 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 grew its stake in shares of Booking by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 125 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Finally, Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Booking by 0.5% in the first quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 403 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,854,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $5,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $6,700.00 price target (up from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,781.04.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of Booking stock traded down $52.94 during trading on Friday, reaching $5,599.05. The company had a trading volume of 138,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 245,311. The company has a market cap of $181.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 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. The firm's fifty day moving average is $5,606.20 and its 200-day moving average is $5,175.91.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $41.90 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,052 shares of company stock worth $22,511,858. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.