Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 26 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $4,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% in 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 during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 3,940.8% in 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 during the period. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $155,427,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. B. Riley raised 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 note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine 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, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,465.48 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24. The company has a market capitalization of $146.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $4,816.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,682.53.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly 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. The company 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, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 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.