Merit Financial Group LLC Sells 70,039 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 114,587 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 70,039 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $4,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,989 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $248,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of PayPal by 41.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 40.1% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 17,388 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 4,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 17.9% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,909 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total transaction of $196,194.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,768,260.18. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,325,762.57. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,612 shares of company stock worth $484,534. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PYPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $48.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of PayPal from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on PayPal from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. HSBC initiated coverage on PayPal in a report on Friday, July 24th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine 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. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.72.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $60.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $51.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.46 and a 52 week high of $79.21. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.18.

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

PayPal Dividend Announcement

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

PayPal Company 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.