HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 39,705 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 22.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 140,355 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 39,705 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $6,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,989 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth about $248,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 41.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 40.1% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 17,388 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 4,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of PayPal by 17.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,909 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 2,865 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal, M0 and MoonPay launched PYUSDx, a developer platform that allows businesses to create financial products and customized digital-dollar offerings using PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin. Three projects have already processed more than $100 million, offering a potential new source of payments and stablecoin-related growth. PayPal Debuts Developer Platform Tied to PYUSD Stablecoin
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Enrique Lores defended keeping PayPal as one company rather than splitting it up, while outlining three focused business lines. The plan includes greater emphasis on Venmo and Braintree growth and approximately $1.5 billion in cost savings, which could improve efficiency and margins. PayPal CEO Reveals Business Model Shift
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with $1.38 in earnings per share and $8.68 billion in revenue. Combined with stablecoin expansion and a low P/E ratio, these factors support the view that the shares may have recovery potential.
• Neutral Sentiment: Lores said PayPal is keeping its options open amid buyout speculation, but he pushed back against selling the company cheaply. The comments may revive takeover interest, although no transaction has been announced. PayPal Keeping Options Open Amid Buyout Rumors
• Neutral Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Chris Natali sold 552 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The relatively small, scheduled transaction is a limited signal about management’s current outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to warn that PayPal faces formidable competition, slowing growth and execution challenges. The stock remains roughly 30% below its 52-week high, leaving investors focused on whether the turnaround can produce sustained transaction and user growth. Is PayPal Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PYPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of PayPal from $62.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group set a $45.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $51.00 target price on PayPal in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Nine research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.03.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ PYPL opened at $53.31 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.99. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.60 billion, a PE ratio of 10.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.28.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. PayPal’s payout ratio is 10.59%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In related news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares in the company, valued at $128,749.60. The trade was a 37.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.43, for a total transaction of $255,643.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,304,058.81. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,774 shares of company stock worth $848,095. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PayPal Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc is a digital payments and financial technology company that operates a global platform for consumers and businesses. Its services enable customers to send and receive money, make purchases online and in stores, and accept payments through digital checkout solutions. PayPal supports transactions using linked bank accounts, debit and credit cards, stored balances and other payment methods.

The company’s consumer and merchant offerings include the PayPal wallet, PayPal Checkout, PayPal Zettle point-of-sale tools, PayPal Braintree payment processing and PayPal Complete Payments.