Ashburton Jersey Ltd Invests $4.50 Million in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,496,000. Booking accounts for 2.0% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Booking by 51.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,394,283,000 after buying an additional 95,308 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $207,089,000. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 3,940.8% during 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 in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on BKNG shares. BTIG Research upgraded Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 target price (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cfra raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,374.90.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,284.02 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,757.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4,755.12.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. On average, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share 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 issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

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.