Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires 139 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 173.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 219 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Booking were worth $777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 2,479.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $414,234,000 after acquiring an additional 112,249 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,774,850,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 139.8% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 65,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $201,166,000 after acquiring an additional 37,994 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 101,736 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $317,313,000 after acquiring an additional 30,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 161.5% in the 3rd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 39,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $120,937,000 after acquiring an additional 24,219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 289 shares in the company, valued at $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $3,521.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $119.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.85, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day moving average is $3,547.11 and its 200 day moving average is $3,385.88. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,456.93 and a 52-week high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. Booking’s revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $24.74 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. B. Riley began coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $4,400.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,580.00 to $4,250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,550.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,723.41.

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.