Prudent Man Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 222 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after acquiring an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Booking by 342,723.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,929,000 after buying an additional 233,052 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth $207,089,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Booking by 3,940.8% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,926,000 after acquiring an additional 37,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at $155,427,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Stock Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,016.01 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $4,898.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4,607.88. The company has a market capitalization of $164.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.39.

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, 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BKNG. Mizuho boosted their price target 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. Baird R W raised shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 price target (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.