Financial Counselors Inc. Has $43.36 Million Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $43,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,777.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61, 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4,788.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,721.16.

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

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders 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 0.80%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BKNG shares. Oppenheimer raised 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. Bank of America boosted their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

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.