200 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Bought by United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 200 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $994,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Booking by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $896,455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,735 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BKNG. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Benchmark upped their target price on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,777.91 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4,788.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,721.16. The company has a market cap of $156.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.61, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 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.