Jacobi Capital Management LLC Acquires 4 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 54 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $269,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,321,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its holdings in Booking by 55.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,921,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Booking by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Booking by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Booking by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,946.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $162.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $4,896.45 and a 200 day moving average of $4,631.73. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark upped their price target 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. Finally, Cfra upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.