PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 93.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,579 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,440,938 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $4,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in PayPal by 15,233.3% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PYPL. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded PayPal from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Loop Capital started coverage on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (down from $60.00) on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.01.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $44.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a PE ratio of 8.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.34. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $45.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.38. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.51%.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total value of $536,170.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,076,687.32. This trade represents a 20.52% 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 hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,325,762.57. This trade 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. Insiders sold a total of 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

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.