Booking FY2026 EPS Forecast Reduced by Erste Group Bank

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) – Investment analysts at Erste Group Bank decreased their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Booking in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, May 5th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now forecasts that the business services provider will post earnings of $10.42 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $10.65. The consensus estimate for Booking’s current full-year earnings is $10.45 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Booking’s FY2027 earnings at $12.37 EPS.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The business had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on BKNG. Gordon Haskett lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. B. Riley Financial decreased their price target on shares of Booking from $272.00 to $264.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler set a $195.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Booking from $226.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.14.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $171.28 on Friday. Booking has a 1 year low of $150.62 and a 1 year high of $233.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.72 billion, a PE ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.10.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,269,532.64. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,081,600. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 59,876 shares of company stock valued at $10,355,414 in the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its position in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $3,271,041,000. HF Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 28,353.8% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,094,083,000 after purchasing an additional 203,580 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Booking by 862.0% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,167,890,000 after purchasing an additional 195,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Booking by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 966,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,173,899,000 after purchasing an additional 128,700 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.