TD Asset Management Inc. Acquires 975 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 975 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $184,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Booking by 621,874.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after buying an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 3,940.8% in the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares during the period. Harvard Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in Booking in the third quarter worth approximately $155,427,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 139.9% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 47,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $238,464,000 after purchasing an additional 27,993 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,777.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $4,788.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4,721.16. The stock has a market cap of $156.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results 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. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,370.43.

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.