Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Decreases Stock Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC decreased its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 46.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 133,946 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 116,583 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $8,226,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 110,462.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,136,071 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,220,431,000 after acquiring an additional 17,120,572 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $1,022,333,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 122.0% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,230,481 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $720,555,000 after purchasing an additional 3,424,122 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 36.2% in the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 10,771,095 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $718,755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,862,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in PayPal by 420.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,238,980 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $190,371,000 after buying an additional 2,616,774 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $66.99 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.46 and a 200 day moving average of $59.41. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.25 and a 1 year high of $77.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.12. PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Argus cut PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Twenty-four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

PayPal Company Profile

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.