Simplicity Wealth LLC Purchases 19 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 179 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Booking by 16.4% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 55.9% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,735 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised 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 valued at $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Down 0.5 %

Booking stock opened at $4,673.38 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4,872.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $4,662.88. The company has a market capitalization of $153.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its 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 net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

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