Pointe Capital Management LLC Invests $219,000 in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Pointe Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 44 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its holdings in Booking by 55.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Booking by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after buying an additional 8,735 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Booking by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Booking from $3,940.00 to $4,510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,033.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4,898.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,591.58.

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, 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 company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.23%.

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.