Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by National Pension Service

National Pension Service lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,825 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.21% of Booking worth $344,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 313 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,555,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the period. Birinyi Associates Inc. grew its position in Booking by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Birinyi Associates Inc. now owns 2,351 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,681,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Longbow Finance SA purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $14,418,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Booking by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 4,739 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,545,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKNG. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Cfra upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Booking from $3,940.00 to $4,510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,033.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4,898.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,591.58. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.16 billion, a PE ratio of 29.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.23%.

Booking Profile

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.