13 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Acquired by Whipplewood Advisors LLC

Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 13 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in Booking by 55.9% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Booking by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $896,455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $5,016.01 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $4,898.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,607.88. The company has a market capitalization of $164.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 22.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BKNG. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company 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 Monday, February 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,580.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

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.