Fiera Capital Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Fiera Capital Corp raised its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 34.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Booking were worth $10,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after acquiring an additional 12,456 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 4.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,865,949,000 after buying an additional 21,969 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its stake in Booking by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after acquiring an additional 10,889 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Booking in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,322,600,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 106,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $420,865,000 after purchasing an additional 13,908 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,943.27 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $4,240.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,931.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.62 billion, a PE ratio of 33.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.38. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,998.52 and a fifty-two week high of $5,060.50.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BKNG shares. Argus downgraded Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,940.00 to $4,510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $5,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Eleven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,749.83.

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.