Procyon Advisors LLC Acquires 273 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 103.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 537 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 521,609.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,887,718,000 after buying an additional 2,362,892 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after acquiring an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Booking by 51.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after purchasing an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Booking by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,499,000 after purchasing an additional 58,357 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,614.61 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $4,990.30 and its 200-day moving average is $4,933.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.70 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.41. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,639.70.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $17.57 by $7.24. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $20.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 23.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank cut Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $5,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Ten investment 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 MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,377.33.

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.