Balentine LLC Makes New Investment in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Balentine LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,325 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in PayPal by 4.5% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $749,561,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 0.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,767,054 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $687,902,000 after buying an additional 78,105 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,976,859 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $428,449,000 after buying an additional 265,116 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 29.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,916,982 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $404,367,000 after buying an additional 1,575,930 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total transaction of $466,079.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of PayPal from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Argus cut shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.73.

PayPal Trading Down 3.0 %

PYPL opened at $62.19 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.25 and a 12 month high of $76.54. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.41.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.14). PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 21.58%. The business had revenue of $7.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.13 EPS 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.