Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,309 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,167 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $3,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its position in PayPal by 113.8% in the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 7,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,976 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter worth about $387,435,000. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its position in PayPal by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 697,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $59,489,000 after buying an additional 18,172 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC grew its position in PayPal by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 33,302 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in PayPal by 120.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,555,240 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $125,461,000 after buying an additional 849,311 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PYPL. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their target price on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 29th. Finally, Arete Research set a $81.00 price objective on PayPal in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.13.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares in the company, valued at $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PayPal Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $67.15 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $74.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.74. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.97 and a 12-month high of $93.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $66.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 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.