Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,921 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Booking were worth $22,671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 521,609.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Booking by 621,874.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after buying an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Booking by 51.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 95,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 58,357 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective 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. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,388.37.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock traded down $163.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $5,298.38. The stock had a trading volume of 261,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 247,315. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5,076.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4,943.51. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,639.70. The stock has a market cap of $172.41 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $17.57 by $7.24. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $20.39 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.89%.

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.