Employees Retirement System of Texas Takes Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 13,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $67,571,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brucke Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $298,000. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 13 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 349 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, American Trust acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $869,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $5,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,120.00 to $5,077.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,299.29.

Booking Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,332.80 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $173.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.82, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,379.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,824.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4,897.17.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.89%.

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.