Bleakley Financial Group LLC Increases Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 13.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,375 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,254 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Security National Bank of SO Dak grew its holdings in PayPal by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Security National Bank of SO Dak now owns 12,191 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its holdings in PayPal by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,016 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its holdings in PayPal by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. DMC Group LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 7,948 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $519,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PYPL shares. Barclays dropped their price target on PayPal from $110.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup dropped their price target on PayPal from $98.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America dropped their price target on PayPal from $103.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI started coverage on PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.24, for a total transaction of $304,824.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 48,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,550,894.92. The trade was a 7.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 3,795 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 13,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,020,248. The trade was a 21.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,796 shares of company stock valued at $863,028. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PayPal stock opened at $72.96 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $70.96 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $72.52 and a 200 day moving average of $73.46. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.85 and a 52 week high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.84 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.59% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal 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.