Headlands Technologies LLC Purchases New Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 6,705 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC grew its holdings in PayPal by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after buying an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in PayPal by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 847,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,344,000 after buying an additional 73,687 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in PayPal by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after buying an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. grew its holdings in PayPal by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 21,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after buying an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on PYPL shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on PayPal from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their target price on PayPal from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on PayPal from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

PayPal Stock Up 2.9 %

PayPal stock traded up $1.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $65.96. The stock had a trading volume of 14,190,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,031,016. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.25 and a fifty-two week high of $76.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In related news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total transaction of $466,079.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.