Blair William & Co. IL Grows Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,749 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Booking were worth $13,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its position in Booking by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,742,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Booking by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 2,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,519,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in Booking by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 12,493 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,070,000 after buying an additional 2,854 shares in the last quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,570,000. Finally, United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $994,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,634.24 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4,779.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,727.45. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. 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. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 target price (up previously from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.