Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 6.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,721 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Booking were worth $225,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Davis Capital Management purchased a new position in Booking during the third quarter worth $32,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the second quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Booking

Here are the key news stories impacting Booking this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KAYAK for Business launched a new “Events” feature to simplify planning and managing corporate event travel at scale — a product expansion that can deepen corporate adoption and increase wallet share from enterprise accounts. KAYAK for Business Events
• Positive Sentiment: OpenTable released consumer research showing broadened dining demand (Gen‑Z driving more inclusive celebrations), which supports reservation trends and restaurant bookings through Booking’s OpenTable business — a small demand signal for travel & dining revenue. OpenTable Valentine’s Day Research
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks flagged BKNG as a “trending” stock among its users — increased attention can amplify short-term volatility but is not a standalone financial catalyst. Zacks Trending Stock Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data reported in the feed is internally inconsistent (shows 0 shares / NaN changes and a 0.0 days ratio). The noisy / unreliable short-interest reporting likely reflects a data issue rather than a material change in bearish positioning; investors should monitor corrected filings for clarity.
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary noted BKNG fell more than the broader market in the latest session, reflecting sentiment-driven selling rather than new fundamental weakness — this relative underperformance can pressure the share price near technical levels (below the 50- and 200-day SMAs). Zacks Market Drop Note

Booking Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,085.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.90 billion, a PE ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $5,212.37 and a 200-day moving average of $5,325.01. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $83.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total value of $80,430.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,124. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 953 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,181.34, for a total transaction of $4,937,817.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 19,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,631,984.10. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,190,323. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Booking from $5,433.00 to $5,407.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Benchmark raised their price objective on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $6,000.00 target price on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,205.88.

Booking Company Profile

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.