905 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Bought by Ashburton Jersey Ltd

Ashburton Jersey Ltd bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,496,000. Booking accounts for about 2.0% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% during 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Booking by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 803,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,986,244,000 after buying an additional 6,009 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted 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 acquiring an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 214,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,064,161,000 after acquiring an additional 4,258 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,284.02 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4,757.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4,755.12.

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. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion during 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%. Analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BKNG. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Ten investment 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, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,374.90.

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.