Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Stake Lowered by Magellan Asset Management Ltd

Magellan Asset Management Ltd decreased its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 29.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,480 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Booking were worth $49,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,956,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,620,154,000 after acquiring an additional 30,054 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Booking by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,706,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Booking by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 296,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,365,170,000 after purchasing an additional 18,268 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Booking by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 226,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,297,331,000 after purchasing an additional 19,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 3.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,023,655,000 after purchasing an additional 8,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Benchmark boosted their price target on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Global Securities raised their price target on Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,750.00 price objective (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, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,121.23.

Booking Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,940.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $5,311.14 and a 200-day moving average of $5,401.89. The firm has a market cap of $159.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $4,096.23 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $83.39 EPS. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total transaction of $352,755.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total value of $79,379.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,729.36. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963 in the last three months. 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.