MV Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

MV Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optimist Retirement Group LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 2.2% in the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in Booking by 2.0% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Erste Group Bank cut Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $5,120.00 price objective (up previously from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,634.24 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4,779.09 and a 200-day moving average of $4,727.45. The firm has a market cap of $152.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 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 the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. On average, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 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.