Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 177 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,788 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 177 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Booking were worth $8,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $9,321,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Booking by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $896,455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,735 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $29,160,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock traded up $28.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $4,617.26. The company had a trading volume of 574,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 232,613. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's fifty day moving average is $4,789.60 and its 200 day moving average is $4,700.90.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend 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 is Friday, March 7th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Benchmark raised their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,370.43.

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.