Machina Capital S.A.S. Invests $1.13 Million in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 228 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,133,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after purchasing an additional 864,406 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 342,723.5% in 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 buying an additional 233,052 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $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 acquiring an additional 37,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Booking in the third quarter valued at about $155,427,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,673.38 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $4,872.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4,649.79.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted 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 negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays upped their price target on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price target for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.