Carnegie Investment Counsel Acquires 113,802 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 186.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 174,899 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 113,802 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in PayPal were worth $7,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $5,276,205,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $949,758,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in PayPal by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,215,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $713,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,843 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in PayPal by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,803,241 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $513,966,000 after buying an additional 625,705 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in PayPal by 1.6% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 8,493,311 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $605,488,000 after buying an additional 132,837 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PYPL. Barclays started coverage on PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, May 8th. Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.91.

PayPal News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts say PayPal still has support from rising payment volumes, Venmo growth, and ongoing technology upgrades, which could help long-term earnings and transaction growth. Is PYPL Stock Worth Retaining in Your Portfolio for the Long Run?
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin launching natively on Polygon is boosting interest in the company’s digital assets strategy and could strengthen its payments ecosystem over time. PayPal boosts its stablecoin as banks prepare to launch a shared one
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles note conflicting analyst views on PayPal, suggesting the stock still has divided Wall Street support rather than a clear consensus. Analysts Have Conflicting Sentiments on These Financial Companies: American Express (AXP), Robinhood (HOOD) and PayPal Holdings (PYPL)
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal is still being viewed as a value stock by some investors, but commentary suggests the turnaround is not complete and the market remains cautious on execution. 2 Value Stocks for Long-Term Investors and 1 We Avoid
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays reportedly upgraded PayPal to “strong sell,” reinforcing concerns about near-term pressure and helping explain the stock’s weaker performance trend. Zacks.com
• Negative Sentiment: TipRanks noted PayPal is down nearly 22% year to date, reflecting investor skepticism about the pace of its turnaround and ongoing competitive/macro risks. PayPal (PYPL) Stock Is Down 22% YTD; Let’s Look at Who Owns the Stock?

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $46.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.46 and a twelve month high of $79.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $44.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.39. The firm has a market cap of $40.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.69, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.33.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. The company had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is 10.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,325,762.57. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total value of $66,128.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,586 shares in the company, valued at $78,443.56. The trade was a 45.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623. Corporate 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.