Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 394 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 11.4%, selling 394 shares, and now holds a total of 3,065 shares valued at $14.12 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Booking, with GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its stake by an astonishing 521,609.7%.
• Booking's CEO, Glenn D. Fogel, sold 1,013 shares at an average price of $5,476.89, resulting in a 3.95% decrease in his ownership stake to approximately $134.84 million.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. decreased its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,065 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 394 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Booking were worth $14,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 521,609.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $516,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 79.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 154,206 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $695,259,000 after purchasing an additional 68,243 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Booking by 182.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $482,081,000 after purchasing an additional 67,562 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 127.3% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 81,785 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $406,342,000 after purchasing an additional 45,808 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,587.11, for a total transaction of $357,575.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 195 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,486.45. The trade was a 24.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 4,116 shares of company stock valued at $22,869,434 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BKNG. Barclays lifted their price target on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $6,200.00 target price (up previously from $6,000.00) 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 given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,808.81.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock traded down $97.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $5,474.81. 247,054 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 170,010. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,719.34 and a 52 week high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market cap of $177.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.39. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $5,603.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5,208.48.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 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 analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $41.90 earnings per share. Booking's quarterly 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 will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Booking's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.