Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 54 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $3,986,244,000 after buying an additional 6,009 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $1,958,352,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Booking by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,831,499,000 after acquiring an additional 58,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,299.29.

Booking Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,086.10 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market cap of $165.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $4,672.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $4,849.82.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Booking’s payout ratio is 23.89%.

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.