Swiss National Bank Acquires 5,900 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 99,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Booking were worth $574,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $516,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,780 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. acquired a new position in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth $536,675,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 79.4% during the 1st 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 raised its stake in shares of Booking by 182.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,081,000 after purchasing an additional 67,562 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 27.8% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 39,523 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,800,000. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 400 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,007.69, for a total value of $2,003,076.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 21,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,922,265.19. This represents a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,452 shares of company stock valued at $17,987,397. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley upped their price objective on Booking from $6,700.00 to $6,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $6,250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,139.21.

Booking Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,583.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $147.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $4,096.23 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $5,196.65 and its 200-day moving average is $5,401.69.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $83.39 earnings per share. 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

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.