Investment House LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Investment House LLC grew its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,804 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Booking comprises about 1.0% of Investment House LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $18,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Booking by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,297,000 after acquiring an additional 602 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Booking by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,191,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Bestgate Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $234,000. Stokes Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its stake in shares of Booking by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 10,968 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $54,494,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BKNG. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price target on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,471.51 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $4,803.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4,691.22.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released 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 business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $9.60 dividend. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.19%.

Booking Company 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.