Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $13.14 Million Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 22.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,929 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,300 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in PayPal were worth $13,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its stake in PayPal by 100.4% in the second quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 385 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 87,524 shares in the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 285.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 524 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in PayPal during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Dagco Inc. grew its stake in PayPal by 1,250.0% in the third quarter. Dagco Inc. now owns 540 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other PayPal news, EVP Frank Keller sold 3,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.20, for a total value of $139,815.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,072,993.40. This represents a 6.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.84, for a total value of $249,054.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,022.72. The trade was a 11.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PYPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KGI Securities cut their price objective on PayPal from $85.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. HSBC cut shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $91.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.03.

Key Stories Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal announced an agentic AI travel partnership with Sabre and Mindtrip — a commercial product tie?up that could expand payments volume and showcase PayPal’s merchant integrations. Sabre, PayPal, and Mindtrip partner
• Neutral Sentiment: Management transition and strategic refocus: coverage highlights a CEO change and new product pushes (automotive payments/other verticals). Leadership turnover can be a catalyst but also increases near?term execution risk. PayPal Shifts Gears With New CEO
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded PYPL to a “strong sell” and added it to its Rank #5 list after EPS consensus revisions and a sharp post?earnings decline — signaling analyst pessimism on near?term earnings. Zacks downgrade / Bear coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple price?target cuts: Daiwa lowered its target to $42 and Rothschild/Redburn cut to $32 and kept a sell rating — these reduce the analyst support level for the stock and increase downside risk. Daiwa cuts PYPL PT to $42 Rothschild trims PT to $32
• Negative Sentiment: Additional sell?side caution and negative headlines (Truist pessimistic forecast; headlines noting the stock decline after downgrades) are pressuring sentiment and trading momentum. PYPL Stock Down on Analyst Downgrade Seeking Alpha: What’s next after Q4 earnings crash
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation interest: multiple law firms (Pomerantz, Kessler Topaz) have launched investigations into PayPal, increasing legal and disclosure uncertainty. Pomerantz investor alert Kessler Topaz investigation

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL opened at $39.08 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.98 billion, a PE ratio of 7.22, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.43. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.46 and a 52-week high of $79.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The credit services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 25.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.35%.

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.