FourThought Financial Partners LLC Buys New Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $601,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $981,929,000 after purchasing an additional 233,052 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 3,940.8% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares in the last quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 3rd quarter valued at about $155,427,000. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Booking by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 51,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $253,762,000 after purchasing an additional 19,391 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,033.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.16 billion, a PE ratio of 29.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4,898.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4,591.58. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 20.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BKNG. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,580.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

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.