Naviter Wealth LLC Cuts Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Naviter Wealth LLC cut its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 379 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 600.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 80.0% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 9 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BKNG. Citigroup raised their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Down 0.5 %

BKNG opened at $4,673.38 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4,872.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4,656.42. The firm has a market cap of $153.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. Sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

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

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.