Hilltop National Bank Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 141 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank boosted its position in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total value of $352,755.20. Following the sale, the director owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $722,045.80. This represents a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total transaction of $82,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,108,500. This represents a 1.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $5,975.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $6,250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $6,200.00 target price (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $5,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,807.89.

Booking Stock Up 1.4%

Booking stock opened at $5,424.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $175.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.73, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5,529.24 and its 200 day moving average is $5,290.99. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,060.98 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. Booking’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $41.90 earnings per share. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

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.