Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys Shares of 10,090 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 10,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,236,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 600.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark raised their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cfra upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,374.90.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,284.02 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $4,757.12 and a 200-day moving average of $4,750.17. The firm has a market cap of $140.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 22.19%.

Booking 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.