Meridian Wealth Management LLC Raises Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,826 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,327 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PayPal by 20.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 8,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in PayPal by 7.5% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in PayPal by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 189,842 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $14,813,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in PayPal by 11.2% in the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,699 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in PayPal by 5.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,084,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $162,646,000 after purchasing an additional 110,691 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In related news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.03.

PayPal Stock Down 3.3 %

PYPL stock opened at $67.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.97 and a 52 week high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.