Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Bought by Natixis

Natixis grew its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,804 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Booking were worth $67,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. B. Riley increased their price objective on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on Booking from $6,100.00 to $5,600.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Erste Group Bank cut Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,540.00 to $4,330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,278.66.

Booking Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,573.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,689.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4,774.73. 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 issued 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. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion during 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.19%.

Booking Company 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.