Riverstone Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Riverstone Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,330 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 7,640 shares during the quarter. PayPal accounts for about 0.8% of Riverstone Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Riverstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,423,344 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,449,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202,956 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 1.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,947,345 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,586,966,000 after acquiring an additional 235,651 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 4.5% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,069,337 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,173,254,000 after acquiring an additional 873,181 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 110,462.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,136,071 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,220,431,000 after acquiring an additional 17,120,572 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $1,022,333,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total transaction of $466,079.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on PYPL shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on PayPal from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on PayPal from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

PayPal Trading Up 0.3 %

PYPL stock traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.70. 6,446,028 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,789,701. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.25 and a 52-week high of $77.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.16 and a 200-day moving average of $59.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.12. PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Profile

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.