Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Bought by Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 31 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $5,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,487.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $178.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $5,028.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4,937.42. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,639.70.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 23.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Booking from $5,540.00 to $4,330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Booking from $5,960.00 to $5,557.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Ten 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,388.37.

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.