Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Increases Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Booking were worth $22,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after acquiring an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Booking by 51.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,394,283,000 after purchasing an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $207,089,000. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 3,940.8% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after buying an additional 37,477 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of several analyst reports. 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 report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. B. Riley lifted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Ten 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,374.90.

Booking Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of BKNG stock 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’s 50-day moving average price is $4,757.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,750.17. The stock has a market cap of $140.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 22.19%.

About Booking

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.