Optas LLC Purchases Shares of 2,675 PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Optas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal during the second quarter worth approximately $435,000. Czech National Bank increased its position in PayPal by 4.5% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 208,260 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $16,251,000 after acquiring an additional 8,925 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,652 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,367,000. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its position in PayPal by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,975 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 4,188 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays upped their target price on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $89.48.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $77.72 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $88.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.77 and a 52-week high of $93.66. The stock has a market cap of $77.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.55, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. The business had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a technology platform that enables digital payments on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. It operates a two-sided network at scale that connects merchants and consumers that enables its customers to connect, transact, and send and receive payments through online and in person, as well as transfer and withdraw funds using various funding sources, such as bank accounts, PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products comprising its installment products, credit and debit cards, and cryptocurrencies, as well as other stored value products, including gift cards and eligible rewards.