Huntington National Bank Sells 460 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Huntington National Bank lowered its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,310 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 460 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Booking were worth $41,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Booking by 600.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,685.75 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The company has a market capitalization of $153.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $4,772.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4,750.56.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. Equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend yield of 0.82%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 22.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BKNG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 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 report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

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.