OFI Invest Asset Management Sells 3,301,642 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• OFI Invest Asset Management has drastically reduced its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc., selling 3,301,642 shares, which represents a 99.7% cut.
• Booking has attracted interest from other institutional investors, with several major firms increasing their stakes in the company during the first quarter of the year.
• Recent analyst ratings for Booking Holdings show positive sentiment, with target prices raised by firms such as BMO Capital Markets and UBS Group, reflecting strong growth expectations.

OFI Invest Asset Management cut its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 99.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,613 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,301,642 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management's holdings in Booking were worth $49,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 1.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Booking by 0.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Booking by 6.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 3.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in Booking by 1.1% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 218,016 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,262,147,000 after acquiring an additional 2,418 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,418.00 to $5,443.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $6,000.00 target price (up from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of 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 price objective on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,808.81.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 747 shares in the company, valued at $4,108,500. The trade was a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 on Friday, August 15th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $134,841,031.80. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,195 shares of company stock worth $23,467,630 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Booking Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,164.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.92, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5,492.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5,321.11. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $41.90 earnings per share. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Booking's 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.

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