Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 222 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 222 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $22,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $4,295,423,000 after acquiring an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,929,000 after purchasing an additional 233,052 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 3,940.8% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $155,427,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price target on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock opened at $5,016.01 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $4,898.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $4,615.15. The company has a market capitalization of $164.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. 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 Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The firm 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.