PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Position Increased by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 176.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,337 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 124,629 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in PayPal were worth $8,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in PayPal in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 15,233.3% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of PayPal from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 29th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on PayPal in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on PayPal from $41.00 to $43.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on PayPal from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.91.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $55.51 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $48.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.33. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.19.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 EPS 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 company posted $1.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.51%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other PayPal news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 1,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,443.56. This represents a 45.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,325,762.57. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Stripe and Advent reportedly offered to acquire PayPal for $60.50 a share, valuing the company at more than $53 billion and lifting PYPL sharply on takeover speculation. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also encouraged by PayPal’s recent operating performance, including a solid earnings beat and stronger-than-expected revenue growth, which supports the view that the stock was undervalued before the bid. MarketBeat overview
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts and commentators are calling the offer “lowball,” and there is no certainty the deal will close, especially given likely regulatory scrutiny for combining two major payments players.
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal’s recent turnaround efforts, including cost-cutting plans and its Venmo franchise, are being viewed as reasons the business could be worth more than the initial bid, potentially setting up a bidding contest.

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.