Proficio Capital Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 25.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 174 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Booking by 380.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,975,000 after purchasing an additional 3,980 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 258.8% during the fourth quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 61 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 5,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,601,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 133.3% in the fourth quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 161 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,579,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on BKNG. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Booking in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Eleven investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,617.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $151.52 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4,789.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,694.74. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. Equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business 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 $9.60 dividend. 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 yield of 0.83%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.