Rafferty Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 562,201 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,134 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned about 0.06% of PayPal worth $47,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Park Place Capital Corp increased its stake in PayPal by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,886 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 310 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 33.2% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 502 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 11,515 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Avalon Trust Co increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 2,067 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $176,478.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PayPal Stock Up 0.5%

PYPL stock opened at $72.68 on Thursday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.85 and a fifty-two week high of $93.66. The business’s 50-day moving average is $65.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $70.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.51.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.17. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The company had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. PayPal’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PYPL. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group reduced their target price on PayPal from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America reduced their target price on PayPal from $103.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on PayPal from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.68.

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.