E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Makes New Investment in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 34,326 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,482,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,236,989,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 67.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,614,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,554,000 after purchasing an additional 10,356,256 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 227.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $624,364,000 after buying an additional 9,590,488 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in PayPal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $251,215,000. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal and Venmo are expanding into higher-education tuition payments through integrations with Illumia, Nelnet Campus Commerce and TouchNet. The services are already available at schools including Michigan State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Butler and Bellarmine, potentially increasing transaction volume and everyday use of PayPal’s wallets. PayPal and Venmo Expand to Tuition Payments
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Stripe and Advent International have renewed interest in a potential PayPal transaction are supporting the shares by reinforcing takeover speculation. However, no deal has been announced, so this remains a potential catalyst rather than a confirmed development. PayPal Buyout Talks Resurface
• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler raised its price target to $59 while maintaining a Neutral rating, indicating greater recognition of potential value beyond PayPal’s checkout business. Piper Sandler Raises PayPal Price Target

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,216 shares in the company, 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 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 4,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total transaction of $253,715.52. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,723.68. This represents a 11.84% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,774 shares of company stock valued at $738,249. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on PYPL shares. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on PayPal from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.28.

PayPal Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $61.25 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.35. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.46 and a 12-month high of $79.21. 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 capitalization of $52.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.30.

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

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.