Swedbank AB Purchases 11,954 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Swedbank AB has increased its ownership in Booking Holdings Inc. by 50.9%, acquiring an additional 11,954 shares to reach a total of 35,455 shares, valued at approximately $163 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and GAMMA Investing LLC, made significant adjustments to their holdings in Booking, contributing to institutional ownership of 92.42% of the company's stock.
• Booking recently announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60, with an annual yield of 0.7%, and reported a 16% year-over-year revenue increase in its latest earnings results.

Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 50.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,455 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,954 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.11% of Booking worth $163,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $13,620,154,000 after acquiring an additional 30,054 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 521,609.7% in 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 buying an additional 2,362,892 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,699 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 18,268 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price target on Booking and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $5,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $5,750.00 price target (up from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,808.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 24,620 shares in the company, valued at $134,841,031.80. This represents a 3.95% 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, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,587.11, for a total value of $357,575.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 195 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,089,486.45. The trade was a 24.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,116 shares of company stock valued at $22,869,434 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,498.00 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,813.88 and a 52 week high of $5,839.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5,599.28 and a 200-day moving average of $5,211.57.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.Booking's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $41.90 EPS. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.