3,965 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Purchased by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,700,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Garner Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,087,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 241 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $989,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 662 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,788,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price 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. UBS Group upped their price target on Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. B. Riley upped their target price on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,563.39 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4,809.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4,687.26. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio 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.