42 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Purchased by Saturna Capital Corp

Saturna Capital Corp bought a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 42 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Booking by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $4,353.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $4,849.47 and a 200 day moving average of $4,671.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. This is a boost 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Benchmark upped their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

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.