Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is Aurora Investment Counsel’s Largest Position

Aurora Investment Counsel cut its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 692 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 78 shares during the period. Booking accounts for 1.9% of Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Booking were worth $3,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the third quarter valued at about $211,000. Savvy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the third quarter valued at about $250,000. First Heartland Consultants Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 334 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,407,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price 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. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. B. Riley boosted their target price on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,295.40 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The company has a market cap of $140.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $4,825.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4,666.88.

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. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during 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%. Equities research 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. 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.