First Foundation Advisors Has $4.75 Million Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

First Foundation Advisors raised its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 955 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Booking were worth $4,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Booking from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Booking from $5,155.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,327.28.

Booking Stock Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,503.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $147.80 billion, a PE ratio of 26.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4,721.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,760.98. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 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.