LPL Financial LLC Buys 94,903 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,013,517 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 94,903 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.10% of PayPal worth $86,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 86.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,307,945,000 after buying an additional 7,767,072 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $387,435,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 174.1% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 4,233,341 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $361,316,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689,162 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at about $135,537,000. Finally, Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at about $81,342,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Trading Down 0.2 %

PYPL opened at $70.86 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $70.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company’s 50 day moving average is $77.61 and its 200-day moving average is $80.92. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.97 and a 1-year high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the business posted $1.48 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,308.10. This trade represents a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PYPL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America raised PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.03.

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.