Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Buys 4 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 215 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 600.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Baird R W raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cfra raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,673.38 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $4,872.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,662.88.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. 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.