ST. Nicholas Private Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 555 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

ST. Nicholas Private Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 555 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,757,000. Booking accounts for approximately 2.5% of ST. Nicholas Private Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Garner Asset Management Corp boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 2.2% during the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its holdings in Booking by 1.8% during the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 168 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Booking by 2.4% during the third quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 130 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 0.4% during the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 835 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,517,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,580.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,989.22 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $4,903.34 and its 200-day moving average is $4,559.90. The company has a market cap of $165.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.39. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 159.60% and a net margin of 24.78%. Research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 207.62 EPS for the current year.

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.