Whipplewood Advisors LLC Takes $65,000 Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 13 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Booking by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in Booking by 103.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 390 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,693,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,050,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its position in Booking by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,025,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Booking by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 478 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,015,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,016.01 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,898.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,607.88. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market cap of $164.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. On average, analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given 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 yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 22.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BKNG. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Booking in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price objective for the company. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Company 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.