Qtron Investments LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Qtron Investments LLC lowered its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 533 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. Qtron Investments LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays increased their target price on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,327.28.

Booking Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,586.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.51 billion, a PE ratio of 26.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,715.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4,766.03.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. On average, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. 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.