Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Stake Lessened by Cypress Capital Group

Cypress Capital Group lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 215 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 62 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Booking by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 797,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,350,605,000 after purchasing an additional 11,211 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Booking by 0.5% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 492,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,073,508,000 after purchasing an additional 2,321 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Booking by 3.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 418,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,763,797,000 after purchasing an additional 13,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Booking by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 296,599 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,249,311,000 after purchasing an additional 11,649 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,917.46 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4,887.85 and a 200-day moving average of $4,642.68. The firm has a market cap of $161.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,700.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.