Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Longview Partners Guernsey LTD

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD trimmed its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,883 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,114 shares during the period. Booking accounts for approximately 5.7% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD owned approximately 0.46% of Booking worth $764,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Booking by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake 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 valued at $896,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 20.3% in 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 period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in Booking by 6.7% in 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 buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Booking by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on BKNG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,248.00 to $4,567.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Cfra raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,285.55.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,540.84 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4,702.41 and a 200-day moving average of $4,768.98. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24. The company has a market capitalization of $149.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.24, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio 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.