Prospect Financial Services LLC Buys Shares of 8,644 PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Prospect Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 8,644 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $373,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 5,534,462 shares during the period. Rule One Partners LLC bought a new stake in PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at $2,043,000. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in PayPal by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,608,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $117,987,000 after acquiring an additional 121,400 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 705.2% during the fourth quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 100,651 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,876,000 after acquiring an additional 88,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 76.0% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 54,458 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,430,000 after acquiring an additional 23,516 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

More PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Renewed takeover discussions provided the main catalyst. PayPal is reportedly in early negotiations to sell itself to a group involving Stripe and private-equity firm Advent International. The parties are said to be considering a higher valuation than an earlier offer, although discussions remain preliminary and no deal is assured. PayPal Stock Rises on Report of Stripe, Advent Buyout Talks
• Positive Sentiment: A $1.5 billion cost-savings plan could support earnings. PayPal intends to use artificial intelligence, operational changes and a simpler organizational structure to reduce expenses, potentially improving profitability while freeing resources for future growth. PayPal Cost Savings: Will $1.5B Plan Reshape Profitability?
• Positive Sentiment: Venmo remains a potential growth and monetization engine. Venmo is generating mid-teens total payment volume growth, but the investment case increasingly depends on PayPal converting expanding user activity and product adoption into revenue. PayPal’s Venmo: Can Monetization Sustain Its Mid-Teens Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent profit improvement may already be reflected in company disclosures. Commentary highlighted a shift toward businesses that are supporting PayPal’s recovery, but suggested the underlying drivers were previously identified in management reports rather than representing a wholly new development. PayPal Stock Surged On a Profit Shift Management Had Already Spelled Out
• Negative Sentiment: Longer-term investor concerns remain. Despite recurring payment-volume growth, PayPal’s shares remain far below their record level, reflecting doubts about revenue conversion, competitive pressure and the company’s ability to sustain growth. PayPal Grows Its Volume Every Year. Here’s Why the Stock Doesn’t Always Follow

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PYPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group lowered PayPal to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on PayPal from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Truist Financial set a $59.00 price objective on PayPal in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $144,587.41. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,325,762.57. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $42,529.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,415,042.70. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 10,612 shares of company stock valued at $484,534 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $61.67 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $38.46 and a one year high of $79.21. The company has a market cap of $52.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.66, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.30.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. PayPal had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.59%.

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.