First National Trust Co Acquires 22 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

First National Trust Co lifted its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,197 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Booking were worth $10,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,929,000 after purchasing an additional 233,052 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth about $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 3,940.8% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $190,926,000 after purchasing an additional 37,477 shares during the period. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 3rd quarter worth about $155,427,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BKNG. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $4,295.40 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,825.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4,666.88. The company has a market capitalization of $140.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. 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. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.19%.

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.