Capital International Investors Grows Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,915 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned approximately 0.52% of Booking worth $859,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,295,423,000 after purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth about $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Booking by 51.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after buying an additional 95,308 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 132.7% in the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 88,754 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $440,967,000 after buying an additional 50,605 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $207,089,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush boosted their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Booking from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Cfra upgraded shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays upped 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 report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Booking from $5,248.00 to $4,567.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,278.66.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $88.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $4,819.22. The stock had a trading volume of 104,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 249,126. The business's 50-day moving average price is $4,663.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,784.04. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The company has a market cap of $158.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. 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. 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 was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $9.60 dividend. This is an increase from Booking's previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Booking's 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.