Merit Financial Group LLC Reduces Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 114,587 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 70,039 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $4,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Formidable Asset Management LLC boosted its position in PayPal by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 30,436 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after buying an additional 4,499 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PayPal by 9.5% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,686 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares during the period. Camelot Portfolios LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 14.6% during the second quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC now owns 24,120 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after acquiring an additional 3,080 shares during the last quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.8% during the second quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC now owns 92,435 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 25.1% during the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,749 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $550,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,749.60. This represents a 37.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $42,529.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,042.70. This trade represents a 1.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 10,612 shares of company stock worth $484,534 over the last ninety days. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Citigroup increased their price objective on PayPal from $48.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on PayPal from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.72.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL stock opened at $60.59 on Friday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.21. The company has a market cap of $51.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.72 and a 200 day moving average of $47.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.10. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%.The business had revenue of $8.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.59%.

About PayPal

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.