Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 261 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,037 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 261 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Booking were worth $34,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Booking by 600.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $4,591.89 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24. The company has a market cap of $150.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4,797.71 and a 200 day moving average of $4,690.53.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly 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 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 the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. On average, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus 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.