Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Trims Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lessened its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 95.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 679 shares during the quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Booking were worth $168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 400.0% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the period. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the second quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank raised its position in shares of Booking by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,570,000. This trade represents a 11.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,587.11, for a total transaction of $357,575.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,089,486.45. This represents a 24.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,424 shares of company stock valued at $12,912,874. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho set a $6,000.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $5,433.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective (up from $5,700.00) 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-three have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,121.23.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $5,048.01 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4,096.23 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41. The company 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5,261.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5,417.51.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $83.39 earnings per share. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be 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 is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

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.