World Investment Advisors Sells 633 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

World Investment Advisors decreased its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 20.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 633 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Booking were worth $12,136,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 2.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in Booking by 2.0% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Booking by 7.0% during 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 grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Cfra upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,689.30 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,337.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4,774.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,750.13. The stock has a market cap of $153.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The company 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, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Booking Company 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.