Kovack Advisors Inc. Boosts Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its PayPal stake by 997.6% in the fourth quarter, ending with 69,119 shares valued at about $4.0 million.
• Institutional interest in PayPal remains significant, with firms like Norges Bank, Vanguard, and Primecap also adding shares; overall, institutions own about 68.32% of the company.
• Analysts remain cautious despite some price-target increases: PayPal’s consensus rating is still Hold, even as it recently beat earnings and revenue estimates and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share.

Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 997.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,119 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 62,822 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.'s holdings in PayPal were worth $4,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PayPal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in PayPal by 6.5% during the 4th 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 stake in PayPal by 35.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,177,536 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $548,520,000 after acquiring an additional 2,160,227 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in PayPal by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 8,168,490 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $476,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth $97,794,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on PYPL shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of PayPal from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.85.

More PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal announced a new partnership with Shopware to power “Shopware Payments,” giving merchants embedded access to PayPal checkout, wallets, BNPL, and other payment options inside a growing e-commerce platform. The deal expands PayPal’s reach with online sellers and could add more transaction volume over time. Shopware Launches Shopware Payments in Partnership with PayPal
• Positive Sentiment: A separate report highlighted that the Shopware partnership deepens PayPal’s embedded payments footprint and could help narrow the company’s valuation gap if it can turn these integrations into sustained growth. Shopware Payments Deepens PayPal’s Embedded Reach As Valuation Gap Widens
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal also released new consumer survey data showing many Canadian shoppers are willing to cut other spending to attend summer soccer events, which is more of a brand-marketing item than a direct financial catalyst. Goal vs. Going Out: New PayPal Poll shows 44% of Canadians surveyed would sideline everyday spending for summer soccer
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts reportedly continue to rate PayPal as a “Hold,” suggesting sentiment remains cautious even as the stock rebounds from recent weakness. PayPal Holdings, Inc. Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage noted PayPal has been declining more than the broader market, reinforcing that investors still have concerns about growth and momentum despite the latest partnership news. Paypal (PYPL) Declines More Than Market: Some Information for Investors

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $41.24 on Friday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $38.46 and a one year high of $79.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $45.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.34.

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

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. PayPal's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.51%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total value of $196,194.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,768,260.18. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total transaction of $66,128.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at $78,443.56. The trade was a 45.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 20,612 shares of company stock valued at $966,623 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

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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