Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Invests $184,000 in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 37 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $184,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $5,120.00 target price (up previously from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays boosted their target price on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,764.16 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4,787.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4,721.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. Sell-side analysts expect 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 dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.