Enhancing Capital LLC Takes Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Enhancing Capital LLC bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 102 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $507,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Booking by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Booking by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $896,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in Booking by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,563.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,809.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,687.26. The company has a market cap of $149.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.47 billion during 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, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. Tigress Financial boosted their target price 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. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.