Gryphon Financial Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Gryphon Financial Partners LLC cut its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 24.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 103 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 34 shares during the quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 55.9% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $896,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 6.7% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Trading Down 1.4 %

Booking stock opened at $4,946.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $162.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $4,896.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,631.73. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on BKNG shares. Baird R W upgraded shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price objective on the stock. Cfra upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.