Prudential Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,968,112 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 459,738 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of PayPal worth $167,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Lynx Investment Advisory lifted its stake in PayPal by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 3,540 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at $77,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,013,517 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $86,910,000 after purchasing an additional 94,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new position in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at about $282,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PYPL. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PayPal Stock Performance

PayPal stock opened at $70.19 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.19 and a 200-day moving average of $80.92. The stock has a market cap of $69.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.97 and a 52 week high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.48 EPS. On average, analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Company Profile

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.