Wambolt & Associates LLC Lowers Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Wambolt & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 17.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 154 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 32 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Booking by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 17,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $102,111,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 4.1% during the second quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 3,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Country Trust Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.6% during the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 8,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,313,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 10.4% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 223 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Booking by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 101,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $584,063,000 after purchasing an additional 14,204 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,570,000. This represents a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total value of $75,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 717 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,510. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 3,452 shares of company stock valued at $17,987,397 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,141.52.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,906.24 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $4,096.23 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The business’s fifty day moving average is $5,157.78 and its 200 day moving average is $5,398.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.15 billion, a PE ratio of 31.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

Booking Profile

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.