PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Shares Sold by Midwest Trust Co

Midwest Trust Co cut its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 439,788 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 17,739 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co’s holdings in PayPal were worth $25,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 6.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 27,953,803 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,874,637,000 after purchasing an additional 636,441 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,131,949 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $746,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,365 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 8,493,311 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $605,488,000 after buying an additional 132,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 35.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,177,536 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $548,520,000 after buying an additional 2,160,227 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on PYPL. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,373,113.34. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 2,208 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.73, for a total transaction of $98,763.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,992.20. This represents a 65.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 96,199 shares of company stock valued at $4,294,018 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $45.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.39. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.46 and a 12-month high of $79.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $46.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.99.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

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

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.

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.