Wesbanco Bank Inc. Purchases New Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 140 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $645,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Trading Down 1.3%

BKNG stock opened at $5,539.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.41. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,639.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5,007.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $4,933.57.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.58 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $20.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler cut their price objective 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. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,580.00 to $5,820.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Cfra raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Ten investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,388.37.

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.