Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,400 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,109,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the third quarter worth $25,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 133.3% in the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the third quarter worth about $29,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BKNG. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $4,600.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,650.00 to $5,100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,820.50.

Booking Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,214.38 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,104.48 and a twelve month high of $5,258.20. The company has a market cap of $172.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4,642.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4,114.85.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.75%.

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.