Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Makes New $197,000 Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 34 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $197,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 1.2% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 167 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 3.7% during the first quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 56 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. Gries Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 1.6% during the first quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 125 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $576,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 0.5% during the first quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,854,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 0.8% during the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 238 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,070,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $5,750.00 price objective (up previously from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $5,433.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,121.23.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,030.55 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $5,367.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $5,402.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,096.23 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $162.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.70, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $83.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total value of $352,755.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $722,045.80. This represents a 32.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total value of $79,379.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 732 shares in the company, valued at $3,873,729.36. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 3,197 shares of company stock valued at $17,260,963 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.