Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Acquired by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 21.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,834 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,106 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.24% of Booking worth $401,617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Booking by 51.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after acquiring an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Allianz SE purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth $15,980,000. Intrust Bank NA lifted its position in Booking by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 642 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,190,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,939,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,634.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $4,779.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4,733.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current 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 $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BKNG. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

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.