Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Buys Shares of 48 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. acquired 48 shares of Booking Holdings Inc. valued at approximately $278,000 in Q2 2023, as per the company's SEC filing.
• Booking reported a Q2 EPS of $55.40, surpassing analyst estimates by $5.08, and achieved a revenue of $6.80 billion, marking a 16% increase year-over-year.
• Several institutional investors made significant changes to their positions in Booking, with Pacer Advisors Inc. increasing its stake by an impressive 1,411.9% in the first quarter.

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 48 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $516,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Booking by 79.4% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 154,206 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $695,259,000 after purchasing an additional 68,243 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Booking by 182.2% in 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. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 19.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 213,529 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $983,707,000 after buying an additional 35,171 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,418.05 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $4,096.23 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35. The firm's 50 day moving average is $5,524.95 and its 200-day moving average is $5,307.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $41.90 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 currently 26.71%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 23,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,237,930.44. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $5,750.00 target price (up previously from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $6,200.00 price objective (up previously from $6,000.00) 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 issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,807.89.

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.

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