Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s 9th Largest Position

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for about 3.4% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $40,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Garner Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.8% in the third quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased 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 buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Booking by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 1,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,242,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 96 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,788,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 price target (up previously from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,917.46 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $4,887.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4,642.68.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

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

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.