B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Has $48.15 Million Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG trimmed its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,782 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Booking were worth $48,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Booking by 600.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,634.24 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,779.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4,740.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given 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 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 22.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Erste Group Bank downgraded Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

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.