Aspiriant LLC Purchases 17 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Aspiriant LLC grew its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in Booking by 30.2% in the second quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 677 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,920,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 238 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,378,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 435 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,518,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC now owns 202 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,169,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 2.8% during the second quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 2,059 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,921,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BKNG shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6,250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,750.00 price target (up previously from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,808.81.

Booking Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,070.02 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5,459.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5,336.87. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $4,096.23 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $164.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The company 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 business earned $41.90 EPS. Booking’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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,516.92, for a total transaction of $5,588,639.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,237,930.44. The trade was a 4.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total transaction of $352,755.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,197 shares of company stock valued at $17,260,963. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.