First Trust Advisors LP Sells 2,952 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,674 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,952 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.22% of Booking worth $366,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Booking by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 101 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 474 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,355,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Capital International Ltd. CA lifted its stake in Booking by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 7,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,549,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. lifted its position in Booking by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. now owns 1,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,446,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Sarl lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 11,836 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,806,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Trading Up 0.7 %

BKNG stock opened at $4,573.31 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $4,689.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4,774.73. The stock has a market cap of $150.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.43, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 target price (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush lifted their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,540.00 to $4,330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. B. Riley upped their target price on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,278.66.

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.