Erste Group Bank Decreases Earnings Estimates for Booking

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) – Research analysts at Erste Group Bank decreased their FY2026 EPS estimates for shares of Booking in a research note issued on Wednesday, July 15th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now anticipates that the business services provider will earn $10.39 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $10.42. The consensus estimate for Booking’s current full-year earnings is $10.43 per share.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Booking from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Booking from $259.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $214.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.29.

Booking Trading Up 1.0%

BKNG stock opened at $184.61 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $169.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.48. Booking has a 12-month low of $150.14 and a 12-month high of $231.80. The company has a market capitalization of $143.05 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The company had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new position in Booking during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at $69,572,025.25. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.