Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Vanessa Ames Wittman Sells 15 Shares of Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total transaction of $79,379.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,729.36. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Vanessa Ames Wittman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, September 15th, Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total transaction of $82,500.00.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,952.31 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41. The stock has a market cap of $160.50 billion, a PE ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $5,465.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5,329.75.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $41.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,620,154,000 after acquiring an additional 30,054 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 854,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,936,132,000 after acquiring an additional 9,333 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth $2,210,917,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 379,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,197,495,000 after acquiring an additional 24,030 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.9% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 377,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,183,690,000 after acquiring an additional 17,662 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $5,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,808.81.

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.