Mill Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Mill Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,655 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for approximately 2.2% of Mill Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Mill Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $28,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew 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 period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Booking by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cfra upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Benchmark increased their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,617.26 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $4,789.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,707.25. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market cap of $151.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.19%.

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.