Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 12,300 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Hennessy Advisors Inc. cut its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 19.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 12,300 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $2,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Robinswood Financial LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in PayPal by 15,233.3% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Argus set a $70.00 price objective on PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $50.00 target price on PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. HSBC started coverage on shares of PayPal in a research note on Friday, July 24th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of PayPal from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.72.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $60.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.30. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.46 and a 1-year high of $79.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $49.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.18.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.10. PayPal had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The company had revenue of $8.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. PayPal’s payout ratio is presently 10.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,325,762.57. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $42,529.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,042.70. This represents a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,612 shares of company stock worth $484,534. 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.