Distillate Capital Partners LLC Lowers Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Distillate Capital Partners LLC trimmed its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 14.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,924 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,036 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for approximately 1.4% of Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $29,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BKNG. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $4,850.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,100.00 to $5,600.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson lifted their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,327.28.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,586.53 on Friday. 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 50-day simple moving average of $4,715.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4,766.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS 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, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

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.