PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Holdings Trimmed by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 8.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,178,304 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 210,342 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $114,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in PayPal in the second quarter valued at about $97,372,000. S&CO Inc. acquired a new stake in PayPal in the second quarter worth about $18,827,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in PayPal by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,608,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $117,987,000 after purchasing an additional 121,400 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in PayPal by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,593,196 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $284,694,000 after purchasing an additional 128,426 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at about $975,563,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PayPal news, CAO Chris Natali sold 552 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.80, for a total transaction of $30,249.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,520. This trade represents a 18.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $40,530.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,301,564.79. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,437 shares of company stock valued at $768,417. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho set a $51.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Telsey Advisory Group cut shares of PayPal to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of PayPal from $61.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.94.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL opened at $58.78 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.46 and a 12 month high of $70.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.05. The stock has a market cap of $48.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.27.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.14. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 13.78%. The firm had revenue of $8.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 24th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.69%.

PayPal Company Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and businesses to send, receive, and manage money online and through mobile devices. Its services support online checkout, peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, payment processing, invoicing, and other commerce-related transactions.

The company’s portfolio includes the PayPal and Venmo brands, Braintree’s payment processing technology, and Xoom’s international money transfer service. PayPal also offers merchant tools, digital wallets, payment solutions, and consumer financing products through its platform and related services.

PayPal traces its origins to 1998 and became an independent publicly traded company after separating from eBay in 2015.