Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $1.06 Billion Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 214,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,064,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $9,321,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $896,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Stock Down 1.4 %

Booking stock opened at $4,946.15 on Tuesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4,896.45 and its 200 day moving average is $4,631.73. The company has a market capitalization of $162.31 billion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Cfra raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

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.