Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Monetary Management Group Inc.

Key Points

• Monetary Management Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Booking Holdings by 26.5%, selling 67 shares and retaining 186 shares worth $857,000.
• Recent analyst reports have led to an increase in price targets for Booking Holdings, with Barclays raising theirs from $5,700 to $6,000 and Evercore ISI from $5,500 to $6,250.
• Booking Holdings announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 to be paid on September 30th, representing an annualized yield of 0.7% and a dividend payout ratio of 26.71%.

Monetary Management Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 26.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 186 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 67 shares during the period. Monetary Management Group Inc.'s holdings in Booking were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Booking by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $13,620,154,000 after acquiring an additional 30,054 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Booking by 521,609.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,362,892 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Booking by 0.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,327 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,706,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,699 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Booking by 6.6% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 296,331 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,365,170,000 after acquiring an additional 18,268 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Booking by 3.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,200 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,023,655,000 after acquiring an additional 8,015 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BKNG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $5,750.00 target price (up previously from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 target price on Booking and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Booking to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,781.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 4,052 shares of company stock valued at $22,511,858 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG traded up $10.13 on Friday, reaching $5,720.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 195,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 210,195. The stock has a market cap of $185.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.41. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,700.97 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The business's 50 day moving average is $5,577.51 and its 200 day moving average is $5,158.26.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 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 the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.Booking's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $41.90 earnings per share. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 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.