Aviva PLC Boosts Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Aviva PLC grew its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 23,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $115,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Booking by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 394 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,958,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $50,236,000. Prudential PLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 86.1% during the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 1,822 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,052,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,675,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Climber Capital SA acquired a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $377,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush boosted their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler restated 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, Mizuho upped their target price on 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-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,374.90.

Booking Stock Down 3.7 %

BKNG opened at $4,284.02 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24. The company has a market cap of $140.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $4,757.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,750.17.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. 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.