Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Acquires 270,642 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 29.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,184,215 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 270,642 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned about 0.12% of PayPal worth $101,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,886 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in PayPal by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 310 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in PayPal by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 502 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 11,515 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 2,067 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PYPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Arete Research downgraded PayPal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.03.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares in the company, valued at $2,145,308.10. This trade represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PayPal Stock Down 5.4 %

PYPL stock opened at $65.15 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $76.28 and its 200 day moving average is $80.82. The stock has a market cap of $64.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.97 and a 1-year high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About PayPal

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.