Horizon Investments LLC Grows Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,321,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $5,120.00 price target (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price target for the company. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,471.51 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $4,803.32 and its 200 day moving average is $4,691.22. The company has a market capitalization of $146.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a 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 dividend payout ratio is 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.