Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $9.60

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 9.60 per share by the business services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75.

Booking has a payout ratio of 15.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Booking to earn $243.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $38.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.8%.

Booking Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $26.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $4,872.35. 10,738 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 273,603. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4,891.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,640.74. The firm has a market cap of $159.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. Booking has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Booking stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 34.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.