Capital World Investors Sells 51,506 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Capital World Investors reduced its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,200,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 51,506 shares during the period. Booking accounts for about 0.9% of Capital World Investors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Booking were worth $5,965,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Booking by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 31 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Booking by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 124 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $5,120.00 target price (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson lifted 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. Cfra upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,278.66.

Booking Stock Up 0.7 %

BKNG opened at $4,573.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $150.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,689.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4,774.73. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Booking Company Profile

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.