Wealthfront Advisers LLC Has $34.46 Million Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 408.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,935 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,572 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $34,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 600.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 80.0% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 9 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,580.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,353.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $142.86 billion, a PE ratio of 25.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4,849.47 and a 200 day moving average of $4,671.37. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 22.19%.

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.