Stokes Family Office LLC Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Stokes Family Office LLC bought a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 44 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Booking by 5.1% during 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 last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,591.89 on Thursday. 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 $150.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4,797.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,690.53.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued 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 yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on BKNG. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised 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 note on Monday, January 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.