Norges Bank Takes $949.76 Million Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• Norges Bank initiated a large new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter, buying 16.27 million shares valued at about $949.8 million. The stake represented roughly 1.77% of PayPal at the end of the reporting period.
• PayPal’s latest earnings beat expectations, with Q1 EPS of $1.34 versus the $1.27 estimate and revenue of $8.35 billion versus $8.05 billion expected. Revenue rose 7.2% year over year.
• Analysts remain cautious overall: PayPal has a consensus rating of “Hold” with an average price target of $55.85. Meanwhile, company insiders have recently sold shares, and PayPal also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share.

Norges Bank bought a new stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,268,558 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $949,758,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.77% of PayPal at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,989 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at $248,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 41.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,470 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares during the period. United Bank increased its stake in PayPal by 40.1% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 17,388 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 4,974 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 17.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,909 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. KGI Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Compass Point upgraded shares of PayPal from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $51.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Mizuho reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (down from $60.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 13,515 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $621,960.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,837.66. This represents a 30.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $1,361,317.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 51,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,373,113.34. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341 in the last ninety days. 0.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $44.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.47 billion, a PE ratio of 8.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.46 and a twelve month high of $79.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. PayPal's dividend payout ratio is 10.51%.

PayPal 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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