Diversify Advisory Services LLC Invests $503,000 in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,974 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $503,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in PayPal by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the period. Rule One Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,043,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the 2nd quarter valued at about $97,372,000. S&CO Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $18,827,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of PayPal by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,608,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $117,987,000 after purchasing an additional 121,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on PYPL shares. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $50.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $43.50 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.28.

Key Stories Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Takeover speculation supported the stock. Deal chatter involving a possible Stripe and Advent International offer resurfaced, encouraging investors to view PayPal as a potential acquisition target. No offer or transaction has been confirmed, so the catalyst remains speculative. PayPal takeover speculation
• Positive Sentiment: Tuition-payment integrations expand PayPal’s potential transaction volume. PayPal and Venmo are now available through Illumia, Nelnet Campus Commerce and TouchNet, with participating schools including Bellarmine University, Butler University, Kansas State University, Michigan State University and Texas Tech. The initiative adds a recurring, high-value payment use case, though its near-term revenue contribution is unclear. PayPal and Venmo tuition-payment expansion
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal outperformed some buy-now-pay-later peers. Klarna and Affirm declined as PayPal remained positive, suggesting investors may be favoring the scale, established customer base and broader financial-services platform of more mature payment companies. PayPal and BNPL stock rotation
• Neutral Sentiment: Options pricing reflects substantial uncertainty. The options market implies a broad potential trading range over the coming year, consistent with uncertainty surrounding PayPal’s turnaround prospects and possible corporate activity. PayPal options outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale was a modest cautionary signal. Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares worth approximately $253,716 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. She retained 30,983 shares, reducing the significance of the transaction as an indicator of business prospects. PayPal insider sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and valuation risks remain. TikTok is reportedly developing a peer-to-peer payment feature that could challenge Venmo’s social-payments positioning. Jim Cramer also warned that some fintech stocks, including PayPal, may be priced for optimistic outcomes. TikTok peer-to-peer payment report

PayPal Stock Up 1.7%

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $62.30 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.42. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.46 and a 52-week high of $79.21. The company has a market cap of $53.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.59%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In related news, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $42,529.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,042.70. This trade represents a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total transaction of $77,679.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares in the company, valued at $128,749.60. The trade was a 37.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 14,774 shares of company stock valued at $738,249 over the last 90 days. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.