Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 100 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,100 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Booking accounts for 0.4% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in Booking were worth $23,736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Rockingstone Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 22.2% during the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in shares of Booking by 21.9% during the first quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 195 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 582 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Booking to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $6,000.00 price target (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $6,200.00 price target (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b+)" rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" 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 eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,808.81.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total transaction of $82,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 747 shares in the company, valued at $4,108,500. This trade represents a 1.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,476.89, for a total transaction of $5,548,089.57. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,195 shares of company stock worth $23,467,630 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Booking Trading Down 3.3%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,242.00 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $169.89 billion, a PE ratio of 36.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,512.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5,312.53.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $41.90 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

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