PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Shares Bought by Arnhold LLC

Key Points

• Arnhold LLC boosted its PayPal stake by 52.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 88,280 additional shares and ending with 255,033 shares worth about $14.9 million.
• PayPal reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings of $1.34 per share on revenue of $8.35 billion, both ahead of analyst estimates and revenue up 7.2% year over year.
• Analysts remain cautious on PYPL, with a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.85, while the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share.

Arnhold LLC increased its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 52.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 255,033 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 88,280 shares during the quarter. Arnhold LLC's holdings in PayPal were worth $14,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in PayPal in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Advocates LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Steph & Co. lifted its holdings in PayPal by 103.1% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 656 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company's stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

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

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. KGI Securities reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Monday, March 2nd. TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of PayPal from $90.00 to $63.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, May 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total value of $1,361,317.62. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 2,208 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.73, for a total transaction of $98,763.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,992.20. This trade represents a 65.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341 over the last ninety days. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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