Brookstone Capital Management Acquires 49,516 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 459.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,292 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 49,516 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management's holdings in PayPal were worth $3,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,736,394 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,849,884,000 after purchasing an additional 271,836 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,615,134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,582 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,529,823,000 after acquiring an additional 9,313,783 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,086,508,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,462,251 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $892,953,000 after buying an additional 1,669,908 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PYPL. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Arete Research set a $81.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of PayPal from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of PayPal from $104.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a "sell" rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $83.42.

PayPal Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of PYPL stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $74.84. 3,974,630 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,816,039. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.85 and a 52 week high of $93.66. The company has a market capitalization of $72.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.74, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.84 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 24.59%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, EVP Diego Scotti sold 3,839 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.24, for a total value of $281,168.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,989 shares in the company, valued at $1,244,274.36. This trade represents a 18.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.24, for a total value of $304,824.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 48,483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,550,894.92. This represents a 7.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,796 shares of company stock worth $863,028 over the last three months. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PayPal 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.