Meridian Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 506 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 400.0% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6,000.00 price objective (up previously from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho set a $6,000.00 price target on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Booking from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,121.23.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $130,237,930.44. This represents a 4.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total transaction of $79,379.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,873,729.36. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,424 shares of company stock worth $12,912,874. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $5,048.01 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5,261.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5,415.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.81, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4,096.23 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $83.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities 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 announced 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. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

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.