Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Acquired by Linscomb Wealth Inc.

Linscomb Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $5,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,929,000 after buying an additional 233,052 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 3,940.8% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $190,926,000 after acquiring an additional 37,477 shares during the period. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Booking during the third quarter valued at approximately $155,427,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BKNG. StockNews.com lowered Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Argus lowered shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,918.13 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $4,899.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4,596.93. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,337.24. The company has a market capitalization of $161.39 billion, a PE ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 dividend yield of 0.78%. Booking’s dividend 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.