Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Takes Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 235,330 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,749,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in PayPal by 35.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,177,536 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $548,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,160,227 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in PayPal during the 3rd quarter valued at about $97,794,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in PayPal by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,131,949 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $746,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,365 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,680,000. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL stock opened at $44.75 on Monday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.46 and a fifty-two week high of $79.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $46.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $39.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.34.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.The firm had revenue of $8.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is 10.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PYPL shares. Susquehanna reduced their price target on PayPal from $90.00 to $63.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on PayPal from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on PayPal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, KGI Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $1,361,317.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,373,113.34. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 2,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.73, for a total value of $98,763.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,140 shares in the company, valued at $50,992.20. This trade represents a 65.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341. Company 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.