Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Purchased by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 44.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,782 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Booking were worth $109,956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% in the 4th 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. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Booking by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,831,499,000 after acquiring an additional 58,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Winslow Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 132.7% in the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 88,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $440,967,000 after purchasing an additional 50,605 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,299.29.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,170.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $168.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.88, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,668.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,841.24. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $20.39 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 23.89%.

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.