Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Increases Dividend to $9.60 Per Share

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 9.60 per share by the business services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75.

Booking has a payout ratio of 15.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Booking to earn $243.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $38.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.8%.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock traded down $33.04 on Wednesday, hitting $4,865.36. 29,451 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 274,124. The firm has a market cap of $159.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.16, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,891.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4,640.74. Booking has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24.

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. 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 the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Booking

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Booking stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 34.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. B. Riley boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Baird R W raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

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.