Insider Selling: Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Sells $216,000.00 in Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $176.75 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $172.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.32. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.62 and a one year high of $233.58. The firm has a market cap of $139.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.20.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $48.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $46.88. Booking had a negative return on equity of 128.99% and a net margin of 20.08%.The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. Booking’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 25.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $955,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Booking by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 87 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $179,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Booking this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KAYAK rolled out “Ask AI,” a conversational travel?planning feature timed for heightened World Cup travel demand — a product innovation that could boost conversion and bookings for KAYAK/Booking during a peak travel cycle. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish analyst notes and price?target raises (e.g., Tigress to $260, 24/7 Wall St to ~$257) continue to support upside narratives after Booking’s recent strong quarter and large buyback authorization. Read More. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: OpenTable (a Booking unit) closed an acquisition in Canada, expanding its restaurant/reservations footprint — a small but accretive expansion to ancillary revenue streams. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple previews and analyst writeups (Zacks/Yahoo) are flagging heightened expectations ahead of Booking’s Q1 earnings — this can amplify volatility (beat or miss will move the stock). Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Opinion pieces note BKNG has pulled back ~16% YTD and may be trading at a valuation discount relative to cash generation — a potential long?term buying thesis but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Italy’s antitrust regulator opened a probe into Booking.com over alleged unfair commercial practices tied to hotel ranking/visibility — regulatory investigations can lead to fines, remediation costs or required platform changes that hit business models and margins. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank trimmed its price target to $210 (while keeping a Buy) — a signal that some analysts are moderating upside and that expectations/pricing power are being reassessed. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: A company director sold 1,125 shares under a pre?arranged 10b5?1 plan; while procedural, insider selling can still add to negative sentiment during a pullback. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Booking from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Booking from $256.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Oppenheimer set a $240.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.66.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.