312 Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Acquired by IPG Investment Advisors LLC

IPG Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 312 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 2.2% during the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in Booking by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Booking by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BKNG. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Ten 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,634.24 on Friday. 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 market cap of $152.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $4,779.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,733.69.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. 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.