Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Acquires 4 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 110 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HUB Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $308,000. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Booking by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 604 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,001,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its stake in Booking by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 3,226 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,028,000 after buying an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Booking by 234.8% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 25,776 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $128,066,000 after buying an additional 18,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank boosted its position in Booking by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 797 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,960,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,617.26 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,337.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,789.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4,700.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.52 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. 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.