Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Invests $2.08 Million in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 48,088 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,076,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the second quarter worth about $3,236,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of PayPal by 67.9% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 10,356,256 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of PayPal by 227.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $624,364,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $61.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.76 billion, a PE ratio of 11.66, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.62. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.46 and a 52 week high of $79.21.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. PayPal had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The company had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PYPL shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Argus set a $70.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. BTIG Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on PayPal from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.28.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other news, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total transaction of $42,529.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,042.70. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 value of $253,715.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,888,723.68. The trade was a 11.84% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,774 shares of company stock valued at $738,249. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

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.