Rathbones Group PLC Boosts Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Rathbones Group PLC increased its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 32.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 350,802 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 86,477 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $15,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in PayPal by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after buying an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. Rule One Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,043,000. Step Capital Management Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,130,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 4.9% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,608,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $117,987,000 after acquiring an additional 121,400 shares during the period. Finally, Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 705.2% in the fourth quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 100,651 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,876,000 after acquiring an additional 88,151 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total value of $196,194.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,768,260.18. This trade represents a 9.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was 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 approximately $128,749.60. This trade represents 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 sold 10,612 shares of company stock valued at $484,534 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $57.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $49.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.21. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.59%.

Key Stories Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal’s recent quarterly results showed adjusted earnings of $1.38 per share versus the $1.28 consensus estimate, while revenue reached approximately $8.68 billion, ahead of expectations and up 4.8% year over year. Investor attention has also focused on progress in Venmo monetization and Braintree expansion. PayPal Stock Opinions on Q2 Earnings and Analyst Downgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Speculation that Stripe and Advent could bid for PayPal continues to support the shares by raising the possibility of an acquisition premium, although no transaction has been confirmed. Market participants are also discussing who else might emerge as a potential bidder. Who Else Could Make a Bid for PayPal?
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal led the financial sector’s July performance with an approximately 30% rally, reflecting improving investor confidence in the company’s turnaround and earnings trajectory. Financial Sector Tops the S&P 500 in July
• Neutral Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its PayPal price target from $54 to $60 but maintained a neutral rating. The new target suggests limited additional upside from the current trading level, indicating that valuation has moved closer to the analyst’s expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical analysts warn that the recent rally has pushed PayPal’s relative strength index into overbought territory, increasing the risk of a pause or pullback even as fundamental momentum improves. PayPal Shares Pause as Turnaround Momentum Collides With Overbought RSI
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about recession resilience: a comparison with American Express argues that PayPal’s fintech model may be less defensive in an economic downturn. Separate investor discussion also highlighted a Morgan Stanley underweight rating and a lower price target. Which Financial Stock Would Hold Up Better in a Recession?

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PYPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price target on PayPal from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $46.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group set a $45.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a research report on Friday, July 24th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.67.

PayPal 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.