Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 177 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Booking were worth $8,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Garner Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.8% during the third quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,087,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 662 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,788,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 241 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $989,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 160 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $674,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on BKNG shares. Benchmark boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,471.51 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $4,803.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $4,691.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued 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. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $9.60 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.86%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

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.