Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Stake Lessened by J. Stern & Co. LLP

J. Stern & Co. LLP reduced its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 13.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 627 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 95 shares during the quarter. Booking makes up approximately 0.3% of J. Stern & Co. LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. J. Stern & Co. LLP’s holdings in Booking were worth $3,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,944,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 268.5% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,147,000 after buying an additional 1,756 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 3,561.9% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,955,000 after buying an additional 2,992 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of Booking by 27.6% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,529,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 404.4% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,933,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,278.66.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,731.03 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $4,663.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,784.04. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The business 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%. Research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.