First American Trust FSB Sells 30 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

First American Trust FSB decreased its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. First American Trust FSB’s holdings in Booking were worth $8,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,321,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Booking by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in Booking by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $5,400.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,709.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $154.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4,788.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4,713.79. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $9.60 dividend. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 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.