Samalin Investment Counsel LLC Acquires Shares of 40 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Samalin Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 40 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on BKNG. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cfra raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 price objective (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,617.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $151.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $4,789.60 and its 200 day moving average is $4,707.25.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.19%.

Booking 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.