Raymond James Financial Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. sold 12,474 shares of Booking Holdings Inc., reducing its stake by 28.2%, and now owns 31,728 shares valued at approximately $146 million.
• Booking Holdings reported a quarterly EPS of $55.40, exceeding analysts' expectations of $50.32, with revenues of $6.80 billion for the quarter, up 16% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, with a yield of 0.7%, set to be paid on September 30th to shareholders of record as of September 5th.

Raymond James Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 28.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,728 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 12,474 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.10% of Booking worth $146,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 27.3% during the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 182 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $844,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth $15,054,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 9.4% during the first quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 278 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,281,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Booking by 13.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 513 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,363,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,781.04.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 4,052 shares of company stock valued at $22,511,858 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock traded up $10.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $5,720.87. The company had a trading volume of 187,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 247,996. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $5,569.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5,145.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.41 billion, a PE ratio of 39.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 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.

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 the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for 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%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $41.90 EPS. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking's payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

Booking Company Profile

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.