Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank decreased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Booking were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,620,154,000 after purchasing an additional 30,054 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Booking by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,706,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Booking by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 296,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,365,170,000 after purchasing an additional 18,268 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,655,000 after purchasing an additional 8,015 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.1% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 218,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,262,147,000 after buying an additional 2,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,089,486.45. The trade was a 24.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,841,031.80. The trade was a 3.95% 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 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BKNG. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $6,700.00 target price (up previously from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,808.81.

Booking Trading Down 0.5%

BKNG stock opened at $5,164.93 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $5,492.50 and a 200-day moving average of $5,325.09. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $4,096.23 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $167.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.92, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $41.90 EPS. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.71%.

About Booking

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.