Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Sells 17,000 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lowered its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 17,000 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.23% of Booking worth $383,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 600.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Erste Group Bank cut Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. B. Riley raised their price objective on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,752.80 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4,784.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,721.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. On average, equities analysts predict 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 0.81%. This is a positive change 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 presently 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.