Achmea Investment Management B.V. Has $37.07 Million Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. trimmed its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 33 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Booking were worth $37,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vestcor Inc lifted its position in shares of Booking by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 1,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,458,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,456,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 489 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,431,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Booking by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 197 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $979,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird started coverage on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush lifted their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark lifted their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,400.52 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $4,838.11 and its 200-day moving average is $4,669.48. The firm has a market cap of $144.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued 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. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. 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.