Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Has $5.29 Million Stock Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 90,553 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 11,204 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $5,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of PayPal by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after buying an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of PayPal by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,855,897 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $191,516,000 after buying an additional 51,268 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of PayPal by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,292,583 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $291,338,000 after buying an additional 313,180 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $13,210,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of PayPal by 47.8% in the 3rd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 411,262 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,579,000 after buying an additional 132,942 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on PYPL shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $67.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wolfe Research restated a “sell” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, KGI Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.42.

Key PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts still see value in the stock, with RBC and Daiwa assigning upbeat ratings, and commentary arguing PayPal may be cheap enough that expectations are already low.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings showed a beat on both EPS and revenue, suggesting the core business is still growing and executing better than expected.
• Neutral Sentiment: Needham reiterated a Hold rating, reflecting a wait-and-see stance rather than a strong bullish or bearish call.
• Negative Sentiment: Macquarie downgraded PayPal to Neutral and cut its price target, citing a softer second-quarter outlook and a cost-saving plan that appears back-end loaded. Macquarie Downgrades PayPal as Cost-Saving Plan Looks Too Back-End Loaded
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America also lowered its price target and kept a Neutral rating, adding to the cautious analyst tone around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority launched a competition probe into PayPal’s wallet funding and usage practices, raising regulatory uncertainty in an important international market. FCA Probe Tests PayPal’s UK Wallet Economics And Growth Narrative
• Negative Sentiment: Several recent articles argue that the market was not impressed by PayPal’s earnings beat, with investors focusing instead on slower growth expectations, competitive pressures, and margin concerns.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL stock opened at $45.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.99. The stock has a market cap of $40.02 billion, a PE ratio of 8.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is 10.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total value of $1,361,317.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,373,113.34. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 2,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.73, for a total value of $98,763.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,992.20. The trade was a 65.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,199 shares of company stock worth $4,294,018. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

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.