Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System disclosed a new first-quarter position in PayPal, buying 107,400 shares valued at about $4.86 million.
• PayPal reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $1.34 versus $1.27 expected and revenue of $8.35 billion versus $8.05 billion estimated, while revenue rose 7.2% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: the stock has a Hold consensus rating with an average price target of $55.85, even as some firms kept buy/outperform views and others cut or maintained sell/hold ratings.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 107,400 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,858,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PYPL. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in PayPal by 15,233.3% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in PayPal in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PayPal news, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total transaction of $196,194.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $1,768,260.18. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total transaction of $66,128.02. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,586 shares in the company, valued at $78,443.56. The trade was a 45.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 quarter. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PYPL. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on PayPal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. KGI Securities restated a "hold" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.85.

PayPal Trading Up 4.5%

PYPL stock opened at $44.29 on Friday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.46 and a 52 week high of $79.50. The company has a market capitalization of $39.07 billion, a PE ratio of 8.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.34. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $45.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. PayPal's payout ratio is 10.51%.

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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