Gradient Investments LLC Sells 473,650 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• Gradient Investments LLC cut its PayPal stake by 96.3% in the third quarter, selling 473,650 shares and retaining 18,086 shares worth approximately $950,000. Institutional investors collectively own 68.32% of PayPal.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: PayPal has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $56.28, with nine Buy, 34 Hold, and four Sell ratings.
• PayPal reported quarterly EPS of $1.38, exceeding estimates of $1.28, while revenue reached $8.68 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.14, equivalent to a 1.0% annualized yield.

Gradient Investments LLC trimmed its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 96.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,086 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 473,650 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC's holdings in PayPal were worth $950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in PayPal by 2.0% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,273 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. raised its position in shares of PayPal by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 44,282 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $2,326,000 after buying an additional 3,603 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of PayPal by 448.3% in the 3rd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 636 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Financial Group bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $211,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on PayPal from $62.00 to $53.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 31st. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of PayPal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $56.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, CAO Chris Natali sold 552 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.80, for a total transaction of $30,249.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,400 shares in the company, valued at $131,520. This trade represents a 18.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.72, for a total transaction of $188,277.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,726,372.76. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 14,774 shares of company stock valued at $848,095 over the last quarter. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PayPal Stock Up 0.9%

PYPL stock opened at $55.53 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average is $56.22 and its 200 day moving average is $50.13. The stock has a market cap of $47.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.46 and a 1-year high of $79.21.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.47 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. PayPal's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.59%.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and businesses to send, receive, and manage money online and through mobile devices. Its services support online checkout, peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, digital wallets, and payment processing for merchants.

The company's principal consumer brands include PayPal and Venmo, while its merchant and commerce offerings include Braintree, PayPal Zettle, and PayPal Complete Payments. PayPal also operates Xoom, a service for international money transfers, and Honey, a shopping and rewards platform.

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