SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Stock Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 355.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,967,170 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,875,688 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $224,665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in shares of PayPal by 15,233.3% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KGI Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research reissued a “sell” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (down from $60.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.85.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In related news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,325,762.57. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total value of $66,128.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,586 shares in the company, valued at $78,443.56. The trade was a 45.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL opened at $42.51 on Monday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.50. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.50 billion, a PE ratio of 7.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.51%.

PayPal Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive payments online, on mobile devices and at the point of sale. The company provides a broad set of payment solutions, including a digital wallet, merchant payment processing, checkout services, invoicing and fraud-management tools. PayPal’s platform is designed to support e-commerce, in-person retail and person-to-person transfers, targeting both individual consumers and businesses of varying sizes.

Key products and services in PayPal’s portfolio include the PayPal wallet and checkout ecosystem, the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile app, Braintree’s developer-focused payment gateway, Xoom for international money transfers, and PayPal Credit and buy-now-pay-later options.