AlphaQuest LLC Buys 23,813 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC sharply increased its PayPal position in the fourth quarter, buying 23,813 additional shares and lifting its stake to 24,404 shares valued at about $1.43 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with large holders like Vanguard, Dimensional Fund Advisors, and Invesco also boosting positions; institutions now own about 68.32% of PayPal shares.
• PayPal is pushing new growth and efficiency initiatives, including cross-border payments through WeChat Pay access and a plan for about $1.5 billion in gross run-rate savings from AI, automation, and restructuring, though some investors still worry about leadership and turnaround execution.

AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 4,029.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,404 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 23,813 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in PayPal were worth $1,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in PayPal by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in PayPal by 35.9% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in PayPal during the third quarter worth $97,794,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in PayPal by 10.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,131,949 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $746,508,000 after buying an additional 1,093,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $51,680,000. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal expanded its cross-border payments reach through Tencent’s WeChat Pay network, allowing U.S. PayPal users to make purchases at millions of merchants in China by scanning QR codes. The move could strengthen PayPal’s international utility and transaction volume. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company outlined multiple paths to achieve about $1.5 billion in gross run-rate savings, including AI, automation, and restructuring, which supports margins and could lift earnings if execution stays on track. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal also highlighted a new travel-related checkout feature through The Tour Guy’s “Reserve Now, Pay Later” offering, reinforcing that PayPal’s payments infrastructure is being adopted in more commerce use cases. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference, but the transcript itself did not include any major new catalyst beyond reinforcing the company’s current strategy. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some investor commentary continues to suggest that leadership change and Q1 performance concerns may weigh on sentiment, indicating the market still wants clearer proof of a durable turnaround. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the topic of several research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a "hold" rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. BTIG Research restated a "neutral" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. KGI Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Monday, March 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 13,515 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $621,960.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,837.66. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $1,361,317.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,373,113.34. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341 over the last quarter. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $43.76 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.60 billion, a PE ratio of 8.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.39. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.46 and a twelve month high of $79.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.58.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. PayPal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.51%.

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.

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