Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Acquired by Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.

Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. raised its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the period. Booking comprises about 4.7% of Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s holdings in Booking were worth $15,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Garner Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.8% during the third quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 2.2% during the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 91 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.3% during the third quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 1,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.2% during the third quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 96 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 662 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,788,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,016.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $4,898.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,615.15. The company has a market cap of $164.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year 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 firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. Research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a positive change 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Baird R W raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Ten investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.