Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 13,026 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 79,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,026 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.24% of Booking worth $393,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 621,874.8% during 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 buying an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,394,283,000 after acquiring an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,089,000. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC increased its position in Booking by 3,940.8% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,689.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.88 billion, a PE ratio of 27.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $4,774.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,750.13.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were 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 was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho increased their price target on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

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.