First Financial Bankshares Inc Grows Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

First Financial Bankshares Inc increased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 836 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in Booking were worth $4,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchased a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 3,940.8% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares during the period. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking in the third quarter worth about $155,427,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cfra raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given 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 an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,471.51 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,337.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4,803.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4,691.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. 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.