Xponance Inc. Acquires 41 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,929 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $39,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Booking by 600.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Baird R W raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,563.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4,809.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4,687.26.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

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.