Point72 Italy S.r.l. Takes $2.48 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Point72 Italy S.r.l. bought a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 500 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,484,000. Booking makes up approximately 1.4% of Point72 Italy S.r.l.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after acquiring an additional 864,406 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Booking by 51.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,394,283,000 after purchasing an additional 95,308 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,831,499,000 after buying an additional 58,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Winslow Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 132.7% in the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 88,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $440,967,000 after buying an additional 50,605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,216.55 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $4,700.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4,864.57. The firm has a market cap of $169.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $20.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler dropped 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 note on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $5,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on Booking from $5,540.00 to $4,330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BTIG Research raised Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Cfra upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,299.29.

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.