6,575,045 Shares in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 6,575,045 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $283,910,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in PayPal in the 2nd quarter worth $19,221,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new stake in PayPal during the second quarter valued at about $150,000. Front Street Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in PayPal during the second quarter valued at about $391,000. Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, L2 Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the second quarter valued at about $221,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,042.70. This represents a 1.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,774 shares of company stock worth $738,249. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL opened at $62.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $53.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.30. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.21.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on PayPal from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Mizuho raised 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. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on PayPal from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.28.

PayPal Company 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.