Founders Financial Securities LLC Purchases 697 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Founders Financial Securities LLC increased its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 697 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter worth about $806,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 847,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $53,344,000 after acquiring an additional 73,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in PayPal by 4.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 4,422 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.65, for a total value of $272,616.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $861,620.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on PYPL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on PayPal from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $78.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. New Street Research started coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, May 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.64.

PayPal Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.03. 28,102,011 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,149,450. The company has a market cap of $60.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.43. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $50.25 and a one year high of $76.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.43.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its 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). The company had revenue of $7.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.52 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 21.58%. PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. On average, analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Company 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.