Toronto Dominion Bank Buys 2,276 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,276 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Booking were worth $76,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Realta Investment Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $520,000. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth $229,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 579 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Booking by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $248,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Erste Group Bank cut Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,120.00 to $5,077.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,540.00 to $4,330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target 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. Ten 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,299.29.

Booking Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,317.07 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 $173.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4,735.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4,879.71.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $17.57 by $7.24. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $20.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.89%.

About Booking

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.