ProShare Advisors LLC Buys 442,969 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• ProShare Advisors LLC increased its PayPal stake by 36% in Q4, buying 442,969 shares and bringing its total holdings to 1,674,730 shares valued at about $97.8 million.
• PayPal reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, with EPS of $1.34 versus $1.27 estimated and revenue of $8.35 billion versus $8.05 billion expected. Revenue rose 7.2% year over year.
• Despite the earnings beat, PayPal shares were down 1.2% to $43.83, and Wall Street remains cautious with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $55.85.

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 36.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,674,730 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 442,969 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.18% of PayPal worth $97,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PayPal by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 521,252 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $30,431,000 after acquiring an additional 67,149 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in PayPal during the 4th quarter worth about $1,539,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in PayPal by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 12,645 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 1,971 shares in the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in PayPal during the 4th quarter worth about $1,915,000. Finally, Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in PayPal by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. now owns 494,520 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $28,870,000 after acquiring an additional 22,141 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on PYPL. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $42.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Argus dropped their target price on shares of PayPal from $87.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.85.

PayPal Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $43.83 on Wednesday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.46 and a fifty-two week high of $79.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $46.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.57.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $8.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. PayPal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.51%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total value of $536,170.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,076,687.32. This trade represents a 20.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the firm's 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 in the company, valued at $78,443.56. This represents a 45.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

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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