Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Decreases Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 37.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,871 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Booking were worth $130,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 803,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,986,244,000 after buying an additional 6,009 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,958,352,000. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 285,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,416,318,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Booking by 51.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after acquiring an additional 95,308 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,573.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $4,695.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $4,771.47. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued 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 business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 22.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BKNG. Erste Group Bank cut Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,540.00 to $4,330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 target price (up previously from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Eleven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,278.66.

About Booking

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.