Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 190 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $39,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at $315,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,928,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 744 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,134,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 88.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,645,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, HF Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 900 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,791,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,917.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $161.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,337.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $4,887.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4,642.68.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced 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 company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BKNG. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Nine equities research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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.