Main Street Research LLC Decreases Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Main Street Research LLC lowered its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 43.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,589 shares during the quarter. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $27,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BKNG. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,750.00 target price (up previously from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $6,250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Booking from $5,443.00 to $5,523.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,121.23.

Booking Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,991.76 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $160.90 billion, a PE ratio of 32.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5,353.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $5,405.35. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $4,096.23 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $83.39 EPS. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 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 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.96%.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $722,045.80. This represents a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 625 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,141.53, for a total value of $3,213,456.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,162,642.46. This represents a 2.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.