Brueske Advisory Services LLC Buys Shares of 42 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 42 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 600.0% during 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. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 9 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 10 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Wedbush increased 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. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Baird R W raised Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,034.55 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $165.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. 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 50-day simple moving average of $4,900.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,594.68.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s payout ratio is 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.