Woodline Partners LP Acquires 414 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 8.3%, acquiring an additional 414 shares, bringing its total ownership to 5,430 shares valued at approximately $25 million.
• Booking Holdings reported a quarterly earnings per share of $55.40, exceeding the consensus estimate by $5.08, with year-over-year revenue growth of 16%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 5th.

Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 8.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,430 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Booking were worth $25,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $9,794,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at about $313,000. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 67.4% in the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 323 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,488,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 130.0% in the 1st quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 46 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,592,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $6,700.00 price target (up previously from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $6,200.00 price target (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Booking to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,808.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, 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 transaction of $357,575.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 195 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,486.45. This represents a 24.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $5,548,089.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,841,031.80. This trade represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,116 shares of company stock valued at $22,869,434. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ BKNG traded down $39.68 on Friday, hitting $5,458.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 128,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 172,971. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,894.51 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41. The company's 50-day moving average is $5,594.00 and its 200 day moving average is $5,215.75. The firm has a market cap of $176.90 billion, a PE ratio of 37.96, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $41.90 EPS. The company'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 expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company 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 is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 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.