Financial Counselors Inc. Buys 73 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $43,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $4,777.91 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $4,788.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,721.16. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. On average, equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th 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 0.80%. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. DA Davidson raised their price target on Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Baird R W raised Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Benchmark increased their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 target price on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

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.