Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Sells $75,450.00 in Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total value of $75,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,510. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Vanessa Ames Wittman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, October 15th, Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total value of $79,379.70.
• On Monday, September 15th, Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total value of $82,500.00.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,768.00 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $4,096.23 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5,182.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5,398.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $83.39 earnings per share. The business’s 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Booking in the second quarter worth $2,210,917,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 578,824.0% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,675,765,000 after buying an additional 289,412 shares in the last quarter. Vestor Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 658,925.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 105,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $610,441,000 after buying an additional 105,428 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $516,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. purchased a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at about $536,675,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wedbush raised Booking from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $5,433.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,139.21.

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.