Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 1,228 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC cut its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 23.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,228 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $19,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Erste Group Bank lowered Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,374.90.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,284.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $4,757.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,755.12. 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 cap of $140.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a P/E/G 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. On average, 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 was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 0.90%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.