Natural Investments LLC Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Natural Investments LLC bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 63 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after acquiring an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 342,723.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $981,929,000 after acquiring an additional 233,052 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 3,940.8% in the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $190,926,000 after acquiring an additional 37,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Booking in the third quarter valued at about $155,427,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,400.52 on Thursday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $4,838.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,669.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24.

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Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) 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 firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. This is a positive change from Booking's previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BKNG. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $5,400.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $5,120.00 price target (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

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.

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