Scharf Investments LLC Sells 1,647 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Scharf Investments LLC reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 9.5%, selling 1,647 shares, leaving it with 15,686 shares, worth approximately $90.9 million.
• Booking Holdings recently reported a quarterly EPS of $55.40, surpassing expectations, with revenue of $6.80 billion, a 16% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60, which reflects a 0.7% yield based on an annualized payout of $38.40.

Scharf Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 9.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,686 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,647 shares during the period. Booking accounts for 2.6% of Scharf Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Scharf Investments LLC's holdings in Booking were worth $90,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake 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 worth $10,887,718,000 after buying an additional 2,362,892 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $516,900,000 after buying an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 79.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 154,206 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $695,259,000 after buying an additional 68,243 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 182.2% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $482,081,000 after buying an additional 67,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 27.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 181,515 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $836,223,000 after buying an additional 39,523 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America boosted 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. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $6,700.00 target price (up from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $5,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,808.81.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock traded up $12.69 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $5,457.13. The company had a trading volume of 214,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 186,898. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,030.69 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The company has a market capitalization of $176.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5,564.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $5,244.30.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $41.90 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 26.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,516.92, for a total transaction of $5,588,639.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 23,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at $130,237,930.44. This represents a 4.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total transaction of $352,755.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Booking 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.