Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 110 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Booking by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,617.26 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4,789.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $4,700.90. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,337.24. The company has a market cap of $151.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The firm 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. 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 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Cfra upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

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.