Valley National Advisers Inc. Boosts Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 77.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in Booking by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,476.89, for a total transaction of $5,548,089.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,841,031.80. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 195 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,486.45. The trade was a 24.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,467,630 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Booking from $5,418.00 to $5,443.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,808.81.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,419.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $4,096.23 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5,519.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $5,313.02.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $41.90 EPS. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities 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 was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.71%.

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.