Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Invests $184,000 in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 37 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $184,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in Booking by 2.0% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its position in Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,764.16 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,787.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4,721.46. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS 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 represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.