PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 303,597 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,863 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in PayPal were worth $18,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sutton Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of PayPal by 115.0% during the third quarter. Sutton Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 443 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of PayPal by 58.6% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 609 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their target price on shares of PayPal from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.47.

PayPal Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $63.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $66.52 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.25 and a 52-week high of $76.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.00.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $8.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Company 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.