IPG Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $1.55 Million Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

IPG Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 312 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after buying an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 797,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,350,605,000 after acquiring an additional 11,211 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Booking by 0.5% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 492,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,073,508,000 after purchasing an additional 2,321 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,958,352,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Booking by 51.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,394,283,000 after purchasing an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $5,120.00 price objective (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective 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. Ten 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,634.24 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $4,779.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $4,733.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

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.