Morningstar Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 73.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 40,115 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 112,562 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $2,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PYPL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,989 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at $248,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal by 41.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 1,310 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in PayPal by 40.1% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 17,388 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,292,000 after buying an additional 4,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in PayPal by 17.9% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,909 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,405,000 after buying an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total value of $66,128.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,586 shares in the company, valued at $78,443.56. This represents a 45.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 13,515 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $621,960.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,837.66. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PYPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reissued a “sell” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $41.00 to $43.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of PayPal from $67.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of PayPal from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.85.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ PYPL opened at $44.23 on Tuesday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $38.46 and a one year high of $79.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $46.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.91. The company has a market cap of $39.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.39.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is 10.51%.

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.