Dodge & Cox Has $3.89 Billion Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Dodge & Cox decreased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 783,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,586 shares during the quarter. Booking makes up 2.3% of Dodge & Cox’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Dodge & Cox owned approximately 2.37% of Booking worth $3,893,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after buying an additional 8,735 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Booking by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Booking by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Booking from $5,248.00 to $4,567.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $5,120.00 price target (up from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 21st. Erste Group Bank cut Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,327.28.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $4,556.84 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4,712.69 and its 200 day moving average is $4,771.67. The stock has a market cap of $149.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.19%.

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.