Bank of Nova Scotia Has $43.06 Million Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Bank of Nova Scotia lowered its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 100.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,666 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 39,998,920 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Booking were worth $43,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings 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 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 buying an additional 8,735 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,495,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 5.3% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Cfra raised Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,327.28.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $23.49 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $4,610.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 91,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 247,804. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $4,715.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4,769.51.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 0.83%. 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%.

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.