Insider Selling: PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Director Sells 3,795 Shares of Stock

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 3,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.00, for a total value of $277,035.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,020,248. The trade was a 21.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

PayPal Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $73.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.84 and a 200 day moving average of $76.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $71.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.45. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.85 and a twelve month high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.84 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of PayPal from $98.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “sell” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at $1,086,508,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in PayPal by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,529,823,000 after purchasing an additional 9,313,783 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in PayPal during the first quarter valued at $529,264,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in PayPal by 284.0% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,804,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $666,100,000 after purchasing an additional 5,772,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in PayPal by 44.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,559,376 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $558,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,638,815 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

About PayPal

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.