Erste Asset Management GmbH Sells 113,154 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Erste Asset Management GmbH lessened its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 89.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,761 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 113,154 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in PayPal were worth $762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 27,953,803 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,874,637,000 after purchasing an additional 636,441 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at about $949,758,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,131,949 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $746,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 8,493,311 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $605,488,000 after purchasing an additional 132,837 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Key PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal announced a new embedded payments partnership with Shopware, launching Shopware Payments and expanding PayPal checkout options for merchants. This could help broaden PayPal’s reach across ecommerce platforms and support future payment volume growth. Shopware Payments Deepens PayPal’s Embedded Reach As Valuation Gap Widens
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal also highlighted consumer spending research showing 44% of Canadian shoppers would cut everyday expenses to fund summer soccer-related spending, reinforcing its visibility into spending behavior and potentially supporting payment activity around major events. Goal vs. Going Out: New PayPal Poll shows 44% of Canadians surveyed would sideline everyday spending for summer soccer
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary indicated PayPal continues to be viewed as a “Hold”, suggesting investors remain cautious and are waiting for clearer evidence of sustained growth or margin improvement. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage noted PayPal’s stock has been declining more than the broader market, reflecting ongoing investor concern despite the company’s solid earnings history and low valuation. Paypal (PYPL) Declines More Than Market: Some Information for Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Another article argued PayPal may be shifting from a growth story to a deep-value play, which can signal that the market still doubts a near-term reacceleration in growth. PayPal: Goodbye Growth, Hello Deep Value

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PYPL shares. Zacks Research raised PayPal from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (down from $60.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on PayPal from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on PayPal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on PayPal from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Eight investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.85.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $144,587.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,325,762.57. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total value of $536,170.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,076,687.32. This represents a 20.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $40.70 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.46 and a 12 month high of $79.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.99 and a 200-day moving average of $50.12. The company has a market capitalization of $35.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.34.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.The company had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.51%.

About PayPal

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.