Cantor Fitzgerald Predicts Weaker Earnings for Booking

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) – Investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald cut their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Booking in a research note issued on Wednesday, October 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now expects that the business services provider will earn $180.08 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $181.84. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $5,590.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Booking’s current full-year earnings is $209.92 per share. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Booking’s FY2026 earnings at $259.95 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BKNG. Citigroup upped their target price on Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. 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 research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $6,200.00 target price (up from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,994.00.

Booking Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,230.59 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5,446.77 and a 200-day moving average of $5,347.81. Booking 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 $169.52 billion, a PE ratio of 36.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted 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 business had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $41.90 earnings per share. Booking’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in Booking by 150.0% in the third quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Booking by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,516.92, for a total value 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 approximately $130,237,930.44. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total value of $79,379.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,729.36. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,197 shares of company stock valued at $17,260,963 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.71%.

Booking Company 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.