Milestone Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 20,773 PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• Milestone Asset Management established a new Q4 position in PayPal of 20,773 shares (~$1.21M), and several other institutions also increased stakes, leaving institutional ownership at 68.32%.
• Insiders have been net sellers, disposing of 87,608 shares worth $3.83M over the last three months (including sales by Suzan Kereere and CAO Chris Natali), reducing insider ownership to 0.63%.
• Analysts are largely neutral with an average rating of "Hold" and a $56.39 average price target, while PayPal's latest quarter missed EPS and revenue estimates; the company pays a $0.14 quarterly dividend (1.1% yield).

Milestone Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 20,773 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,213,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in PayPal by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 463,016 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $27,031,000 after acquiring an additional 48,452 shares in the last quarter. WP Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of PayPal by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 129,046 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $7,534,000 after purchasing an additional 21,235 shares during the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 58,168 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,396,000 after purchasing an additional 8,971 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of PayPal by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 64,955 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,792,000 after purchasing an additional 2,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of PayPal by 112.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 184,989 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $10,800,000 after purchasing an additional 97,946 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 13,515 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $621,960.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,837.66. This represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 2,208 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.73, for a total value of $98,763.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,140 shares in the company, valued at $50,992.20. This represents a 65.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 87,608 shares of company stock worth $3,831,535 over the last three months. 0.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on PYPL. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on PayPal from $67.00 to $48.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Dbs Bank upgraded PayPal to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. William Blair restated a "market perform" 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 on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.39.

PayPal Price Performance

PayPal stock opened at $51.22 on Thursday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.48. The company has a market cap of $46.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.47, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.40.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The credit services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.06). PayPal had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 25.42%. The company had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. PayPal's payout ratio is 10.35%.

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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