Winslow Capital Management LLC Acquires 50,605 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Winslow Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 132.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,605 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for 1.6% of Winslow Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Winslow Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.27% of Booking worth $440,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Texas Yale Capital Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $219,000. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 3,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,320,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in Booking by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,853,000 after buying an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 125.8% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 35,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $176,217,000 after purchasing an additional 19,763 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,320.38.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,164.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.06, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $4,726.94 and a 200 day moving average of $4,758.36.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. Analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 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.