Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 1.8%, now holding a value of $45.86 million after selling 182 shares in the first quarter.
• Booking Holdings has seen various analyst upgrades with a consensus target price of $5,781.04 and an average rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.7%, scheduled for payment on September 30th.

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,954 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 182 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Booking were worth $45,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Broadleaf Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 1st quarter worth $2,999,000. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 25.8% in the first quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 745 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,432,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 3.8% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 468 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,170,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.6% in the first quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 185 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupe la Francaise raised its holdings in Booking by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 9,180 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $43,563,000 after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Booking Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $36.31 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $5,651.99. The company had a trading volume of 167,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 245,924. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.31, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.41. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $5,598.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5,170.82. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,700.97 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $50.32 by $5.08. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.Booking's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $41.90 earnings per share. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS 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. 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 currently 26.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,841,031.80. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 4,052 shares of company stock valued at $22,511,858 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $6,200.00 target price (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $5,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,781.04.

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.