First Financial Bankshares Inc Purchases 5 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

First Financial Bankshares Inc boosted its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 836 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in Booking were worth $4,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. GM Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 73.3% during the fourth quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 130 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its position in Booking by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,297,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Booking by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,191,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Bestgate Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $234,000. Finally, Stokes Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $219,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,471.51 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $4,803.32 and its 200 day moving average is $4,691.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.73 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. 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. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Booking’s payout ratio 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.