New York, Feb 24, 2026, 5:27 PM EST — After-hours
- Booking Holdings jumped 5.1% Tuesday, finishing the session at $4,068.56.
- Morgan Stanley bumped the stock up to overweight, but trimmed its price target down to $5,500.
- March’s dividend record date has investors’ attention, with a stock split coming up on April 2.
Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. jumped 5.1% Tuesday, ending at $4,068.56, buoyed after a Wall Street upgrade shifted investor sentiment for the online travel giant.
Morgan Stanley bumped Booking up to “overweight” from “equal-weight,” but trimmed its price target to $5,500 from $6,150. Analyst Brian Nowak says Booking should “stay a key driver of travel even as agentic tools evolve”—and “overweight” signals he expects the stock to outperform. Investing.com
This call drops right into the thick of a noisy fight over AI and the power over online travel demand. “We’re in for a period of time where the market will be going through some uncertainty,” said Matthew Keator, managing partner at the Keator Group, as investors work through a steady stream of changing AI news. Reuters
Booking shares slid 5.05% Monday, ending at $3,870.83. Expedia Group lost 7.36%, and Trip.com Group shed 3.01%—all retreating in a tough day for travel stocks.
Last week, Booking put the spotlight on shareholder payouts and an imminent stock split. The board signed off on a 25-for-1 split for its common shares, set to take effect April 2. It also announced a $10.50 per share dividend, with a March 31 payout for holders on record as of March 6.
Booking shares edged up roughly 2% in after-hours trading following a fourth-quarter earnings beat, driven by steady international travel demand. The company also shared its growth outlook into early 2026.
The market’s sharp drop Monday underscored just how fast sentiment can shift. “You’ve seen the market react to headlines, it’s ‘sell first, assess later’,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, after stocks fell on worries about AI-driven job cuts and fresh tariff jitters. Reuters
Booking faces a potential shakeup from “agentic” AI — the kind that does more than answer queries and actually takes action. Should major AI platforms move to process checkouts directly and become the “merchant of record,” handling payments themselves, the dynamic shifts. Intermediaries might find themselves losing bargaining power, and attracting traffic could get pricier.
Tuesday’s rally smacks of a relief trade, at least for the moment. The question now: Can the stock hang onto its gains if the AI sector avoids another round of turbulence—and will analysts keep the upgrades coming?
Up ahead: Booking’s set for a March 6 dividend record date, with the stock split arriving April 2. Traders are eyeing the action as those dates approach, looking to see if the AI story loses steam—or catches fire all over again.
