Wambolt & Associates LLC Lowers Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Wambolt & Associates LLC lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 199 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 26 shares during the quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after buying an additional 864,406 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 3,940.8% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares in the last quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at $155,427,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Booking by 139.9% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 47,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $238,464,000 after purchasing an additional 27,993 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark increased their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,709.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $4,788.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4,713.79. The company has a market capitalization of $154.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. As a group, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.19%.

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.