Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Cuts Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC cut its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 476 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for 2.4% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $30,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,394,283,000 after buying an additional 95,308 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $207,089,000. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 3,940.8% in the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after acquiring an additional 37,477 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,244.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4,748.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,761.84.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued 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 business had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $9.60 dividend. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,351.41.

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.