186 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Purchased by Riverbend Wealth Management LLC

Riverbend Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $927,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Booking by 621,874.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after buying an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Booking by 342,723.5% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,929,000 after acquiring an additional 233,052 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 3,940.8% in the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares during the period. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking during the third quarter worth approximately $155,427,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BKNG. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,451.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4,861.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4,667.69. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 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.