Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $15.59 Million Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $15,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $981,929,000 after purchasing an additional 233,052 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 3,940.8% in the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $190,926,000 after acquiring an additional 37,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking in the 3rd quarter worth about $155,427,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush increased their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 price objective (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cfra raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Up 0.6 %

BKNG opened at $4,617.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $4,789.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,694.74. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.83%. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.