Legal & General Group Plc Has $409.05 Million Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its PayPal stake by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, ending with 7,006,625 shares worth about $409.0 million.
• PayPal reported better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, posting $1.34 EPS versus $1.27 expected and revenue of $8.35 billion, up 7.2% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold” with an average price target of $55.85.

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,006,625 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 54,749 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.76% of PayPal worth $409,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Diversified Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in PayPal by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Investment Strategies LLC now owns 75,463 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $4,406,000 after buying an additional 16,468 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in PayPal by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 98,133 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $5,729,000 after buying an additional 13,218 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its position in PayPal by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 43,599 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,545,000 after buying an additional 2,370 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in PayPal by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 948,406 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $55,368,000 after buying an additional 14,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its position in PayPal by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 235,067 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $13,723,000 after buying an additional 6,366 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL stock opened at $44.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $46.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.91. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.46 and a 52-week high of $79.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.39.

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, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related 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 value of $621,960.30. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were 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 owned 1,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PYPL shares. BTIG Research restated a "neutral" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price target on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $32.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $34.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of PayPal from $41.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.85.

PayPal Company 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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