PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Shares Purchased by Saudi Central Bank

Saudi Central Bank boosted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 2.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,013,623 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,019 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in PayPal were worth $43,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the second quarter valued at about $3,236,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the second quarter valued at approximately $975,563,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $422,092,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in shares of PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $20,758,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PYPL shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on PayPal from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $50.00 price target on PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Clear Str raised PayPal to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on PayPal from $43.50 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.03.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total transaction of $253,715.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,888,723.68. This represents a 11.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,216 shares in the company, valued at $128,749.60. This trade represents a 37.63% 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. Insiders sold 6,231 shares of company stock valued at $373,924 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $54.96 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.46 and a 1-year high of $79.21. The firm has a market cap of $47.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.39, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.28.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. PayPal’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.59%.

More PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Renewed takeover speculation, including reports of possible interest from Stripe and discussion of a potential bid near $50 billion, has provided support by raising the possibility of a premium transaction. The reports remain unconfirmed. PayPal Stock Jumps on Fresh Takeover Speculation
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal’s buy-now-pay-later, credit and debit products are expanding its financial-services offering and could increase customer engagement, transaction volume and revenue growth. PayPal’s BNPL and Credit Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is approaching an ex-dividend date, while its low earnings valuation may attract value-oriented investors. However, valuation support has not fully offset concerns about growth and execution. PayPal stock gains ahead of ex-dividend date
• Negative Sentiment: PayPal reportedly paused the proposed sale of its venture-capital portfolio after potential buyers offered substantially less than expected. The decision reduces near-term proceeds from a noncore-asset sale and suggests difficult market conditions for the portfolio. PayPal pauses venture portfolio sale
• Negative Sentiment: PayPal is eliminating 251 positions at its San Jose headquarters and has also cut jobs in India and Ireland as part of its multiyear restructuring. While the reductions could lower costs over time, the repeated layoffs highlight ongoing operational pressure and uncertainty about the turnaround. PayPal adds another round of layoffs

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.