Capital International Sarl Raises Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Capital International Sarl grew its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,836 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 797 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for approximately 1.4% of Capital International Sarl’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Booking were worth $58,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% during the 4th 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 stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Booking by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after buying an additional 95,308 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth about $207,089,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,573.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $4,695.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4,771.47.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 22.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cfra raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $4,850.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,278.66.

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.