Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $1.37 Million Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,993 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,580 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the third quarter valued at $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $810,000. FCG Investment Co bought a new position in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,079,000. Equity Investment Corp boosted its stake in PayPal by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $155,927,000 after purchasing an additional 67,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weil Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 68.9% in the third quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 41,689 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 17,003 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PYPL shares. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on PayPal in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.65.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $83.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.75 and a 200 day moving average of $76.10. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.77 and a 52-week high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. PayPal’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal 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.