Geode Capital Management LLC Sells 293,214 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management trimmed its PayPal stake by 1.3% in Q4, selling 293,214 shares and still holding 21.47 million shares valued at about $1.25 billion.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with 68.32% of PayPal shares held by institutions; Vanguard and other large funds also increased their positions during the period.
• PayPal beat earnings expectations for the latest quarter, reporting $1.34 EPS on $8.35 billion in revenue, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average price target of $55.85.

Geode Capital Management LLC cut its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,472,335 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 293,214 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.33% of PayPal worth $1,248,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in PayPal by 6.5% in 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 buying an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in PayPal by 35.9% in 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 bought a new stake in PayPal in the third quarter worth $97,794,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in PayPal by 10.9% in 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 bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $51,680,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PYPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on PayPal from $50.00 to $32.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. KGI Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on PayPal from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. HSBC downgraded PayPal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.85.

PayPal Stock Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $44.46 on Friday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.46 and a twelve month high of $79.50. The company has a market cap of $39.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.The business had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 13,515 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $621,960.30. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,837.66. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,373,113.34. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

Key PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal announced a partnership with Tencent’s Weixin Pay that will let U.S. PayPal users pay at tens of millions of merchants in China by scanning QR codes, expanding PayPal’s cross-border payment network and potentially opening a large new travel and spending market. Article: Tencent links PayPal to WeChat Pay network, enabling US users to spend across China
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal and Tencent said the rollout could eventually extend to PayPal users in other markets, while temporary fee waivers through 2026 may encourage adoption and transaction growth. Article: Tencent links PayPal to WeChat Pay network, enabling US users to spend across China
• Positive Sentiment: Management reiterated plans to find about $1.5 billion in gross run-rate savings through AI, automation, and restructuring, which could support margin expansion and earnings growth. Article: PayPal's $1.5B Cost Reduction: Will It Drive Faster Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and a conference presentation framed PayPal as a company with strong free cash flow and substantial net cash, reinforcing the view that the shares may be undervalued. Article: PayPal: A 15% FCF Yield With 10% Of The Market Cap Net Cash
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal-related short-interest data showed no meaningful change in available reported shares, so this does not appear to be a major new trading driver. Article: PayPal Price Performance

PayPal Profile

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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