DRW Securities LLC Makes New $497,000 Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. BTIG Research raised Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,327.28.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $4,494.64 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $4,717.39 and its 200-day moving average is $4,763.18. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The company has a market capitalization of $147.49 billion, a PE ratio of 25.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 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.