Sandy Spring Bank Decreases Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Sandy Spring Bank decreased its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,390 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,170 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in PayPal were worth $2,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 113.8% during the 4th 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 stake in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $387,435,000. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in PayPal by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 697,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $59,489,000 after buying an additional 18,172 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 33,302 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,842,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in PayPal by 120.3% in the 3rd 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on PYPL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of PayPal from $85.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. DZ Bank raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.03.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $69.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $68.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $78.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.97 and a 12 month high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.