Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Position Cut by Wambolt & Associates LLC

Wambolt & Associates LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 199 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 26 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after acquiring an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares in the last quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking during the 3rd quarter worth about $155,427,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 139.9% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 47,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $238,464,000 after buying an additional 27,993 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Benchmark increased their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,709.72 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $4,788.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4,713.79. The stock has a market cap of $154.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month 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, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal 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 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 dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.