Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $9.60

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 9.60 per share by the business services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75.

Booking has a payout ratio of 15.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Booking to earn $243.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $38.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.8%.

Booking Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $32.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $4,866.07. 23,060 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 273,799. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $4,891.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $4,640.74. Booking has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24. The company has a market cap of $159.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly 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. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. On average, analysts predict that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BKNG. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush upped their target price on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. B. Riley boosted their price target on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Booking stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 34.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.