Westover Capital Advisors LLC Sells 3 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Westover Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3 shares during the period. Westover Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its stake in shares of Booking by 55.9% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Booking by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $896,455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,946.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $162.31 billion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,337.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $4,896.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,631.73.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. Equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

About Booking

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.