Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Cuts Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. cut its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 80.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 200 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Booking were worth $994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Booking by 600.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. Mizuho lifted their target price on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Erste Group Bank downgraded Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Down 2.0 %

BKNG opened at $4,471.51 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4,803.32 and its 200-day moving average is $4,691.22. The stock has a market cap of $146.73 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24.

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, 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 negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. As a group, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

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.