Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Invests $1.18 Million in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 237 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,179,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Booking by 51.4% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC raised its position in Booking by 132.7% during the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 88,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $440,967,000 after buying an additional 50,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $207,089,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark upped their target price on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Erste Group Bank lowered Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Cfra raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,327.28.

Booking Trading Up 2.0 %

BKNG opened at $4,586.53 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.51 billion, a PE ratio of 26.51, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4,715.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $4,769.51.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued 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. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. As a group, analysts predict 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 given 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Booking’s 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.