Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 296 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,739 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 296 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Booking were worth $23,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Booking by 342,723.5% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $981,929,000 after buying an additional 233,052 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Booking by 3,940.8% in the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after buying an additional 37,477 shares during the last quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at about $155,427,000. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its stake in Booking by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 51,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $253,762,000 after buying an additional 19,391 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus lowered shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Baird R W raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Ten equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Up 1.2 %

BKNG opened at $5,049.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $165.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.18, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $4,901.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,580.38.

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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

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.