Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Hosking Partners LLP

Hosking Partners LLP reduced its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,715 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for approximately 3.0% of Hosking Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Hosking Partners LLP’s holdings in Booking were worth $75,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 16.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its holdings in Booking by 55.9% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,921,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,918.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $161.39 billion, a PE ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4,899.44 and a 200-day moving average of $4,596.93. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.19%.

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.