Rathbones Group PLC Has $17.98 Million Stock Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC has reduced its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. by 6.8% during Q1, now holding 275,548 shares worth approximately $17.98 million.
• Analyst ratings for PayPal show a consensus "Hold" status, with price targets varying from $68.00 to $100.00 set by several firms.
• PayPal's latest earnings revealed an EPS of $1.40, surpassing expectations, with revenue reported at $8.29 billion.

Rathbones Group PLC lessened its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 275,548 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 20,151 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC's holdings in PayPal were worth $17,979,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in PayPal by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,529,823,000 after acquiring an additional 9,313,783 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in PayPal during the first quarter valued at approximately $529,264,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in PayPal by 44.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,559,376 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $558,499,000 after acquiring an additional 2,638,815 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in PayPal by 124.1% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,497,415 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $228,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in PayPal by 19.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 11,238,218 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $733,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PYPL. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of PayPal from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $75.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued a "positive" rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $85.00.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL traded down $1.25 on Thursday, hitting $69.38. The stock had a trading volume of 10,669,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,248,353. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.85 and a twelve month high of $93.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $72.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.21. The company has a market capitalization of $66.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.42.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.10. PayPal had a net margin of 14.49% and a return on equity of 25.35%. The company had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Chris Natali sold 7,102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.35, for a total value of $492,523.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 3,795 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.00, for a total value of $277,035.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,020,248. The trade was a 21.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,736 shares of company stock worth $1,620,835 over the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a technology platform that enables digital payments on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. It operates a two-sided network at scale that connects merchants and consumers that enables its customers to connect, transact, and send and receive payments through online and in person, as well as transfer and withdraw funds using various funding sources, such as bank accounts, PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products comprising its installment products, credit and debit cards, and cryptocurrencies, as well as other stored value products, including gift cards and eligible rewards.