FineMark National Bank & Trust Buys 6 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

FineMark National Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 341 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the period. FineMark National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Booking by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,321,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised 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 acquiring an additional 8,735 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 price target (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,777.91 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $4,788.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $4,721.16. The firm has a market cap of $156.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. Research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.