Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Stock Position Raised by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 51.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Booking makes up about 1.1% of Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.85% of Booking worth $1,394,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 16.4% in 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. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Booking by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 6.7% during 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. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cfra upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,634.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4,779.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $4,733.69. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. 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.