Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. Sells 301 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 301 shares during the period. Booking makes up about 4.0% of Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $9,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Susquehanna increased their price target on Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $5,033.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,898.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,591.58. The firm has a market cap of $165.16 billion, a PE ratio of 29.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. 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.