8,974 Shares in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Bought by Diversify Advisory Services LLC

Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 8,974 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $503,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PayPal by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,236,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 67.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,614,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,158,554,000 after buying an additional 10,356,256 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in PayPal by 227.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $624,364,000 after buying an additional 9,590,488 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of PYPL opened at $62.30 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.30. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.46 and a 12-month high of $79.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%.The company’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.59%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In related news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total transaction of $253,715.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,723.68. The trade was a 11.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total transaction of $77,679.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares in the company, valued at $128,749.60. This represents a 37.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 14,774 shares of company stock worth $738,249 in the last quarter. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Takeover speculation supported the stock. Deal chatter involving a possible Stripe and Advent International offer resurfaced, encouraging investors to view PayPal as a potential acquisition target. No offer or transaction has been confirmed, so the catalyst remains speculative. PayPal takeover speculation
• Positive Sentiment: Tuition-payment integrations expand PayPal’s potential transaction volume. PayPal and Venmo are now available through Illumia, Nelnet Campus Commerce and TouchNet, with participating schools including Bellarmine University, Butler University, Kansas State University, Michigan State University and Texas Tech. The initiative adds a recurring, high-value payment use case, though its near-term revenue contribution is unclear. PayPal and Venmo tuition-payment expansion
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal outperformed some buy-now-pay-later peers. Klarna and Affirm declined as PayPal remained positive, suggesting investors may be favoring the scale, established customer base and broader financial-services platform of more mature payment companies. PayPal and BNPL stock rotation
• Neutral Sentiment: Options pricing reflects substantial uncertainty. The options market implies a broad potential trading range over the coming year, consistent with uncertainty surrounding PayPal’s turnaround prospects and possible corporate activity. PayPal options outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale was a modest cautionary signal. Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares worth approximately $253,716 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. She retained 30,983 shares, reducing the significance of the transaction as an indicator of business prospects. PayPal insider sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and valuation risks remain. TikTok is reportedly developing a peer-to-peer payment feature that could challenge Venmo’s social-payments positioning. Jim Cramer also warned that some fintech stocks, including PayPal, may be priced for optimistic outcomes. TikTok peer-to-peer payment report

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PYPL. HSBC began coverage on PayPal in a research report on Friday, July 24th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $43.50 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.28.

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.