Stevens Capital Management LP Acquires Shares of 450 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 450 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,236,000. Booking comprises approximately 0.9% of Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Booking by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Booking by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BKNG shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price target on the stock. Finally, B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,617.26 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4,789.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,700.90. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Booking 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.