Hartford Investment Management Co. Lowers Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,964 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Booking were worth $11,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 182 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $844,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Booking in the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in Booking during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,592,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Booking by 9.4% during the first quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,281,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Booking by 13.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 513 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,363,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total transaction of $82,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,108,500. The trade was a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6,000.00 price target (up from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price objective on Booking and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,808.81.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,575.73 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $5,556.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5,255.83. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,060.98 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.71 billion, a PE ratio of 38.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $41.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

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.