Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 43 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Booking by 621,874.8% during 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 buying an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 797,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,350,605,000 after acquiring an additional 11,211 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 492,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,073,508,000 after acquiring an additional 2,321 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Booking by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 418,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,763,797,000 after acquiring an additional 13,429 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 296,599 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,249,311,000 after purchasing an additional 11,649 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Up 0.6 %

BKNG stock opened at $4,617.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4,789.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $4,700.90. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $5.47 billion during 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Booking 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.