ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 6,674 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,674 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $211,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 348 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,729,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Realta Investment Advisors bought a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $520,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,216.55 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $4,700.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4,864.57. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market cap of $169.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.58 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $20.39 EPS. Analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BKNG. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. BTIG Research upgraded Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Booking from $5,960.00 to $5,557.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Ten equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,299.29.

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.