Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Acquires Shares of 13,395 PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 13,395 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $578,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 15,233.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total transaction of $77,679.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,749.60. This trade represents a 37.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total transaction of $253,715.52. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,723.68. This represents a 11.84% 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 sold 14,774 shares of company stock worth $738,249 in the last 90 days. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on PYPL. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $43.50 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Argus set a $70.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.28.

PayPal News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Takeover speculation supported the stock. Deal chatter involving a possible Stripe and Advent International offer resurfaced, encouraging investors to view PayPal as a potential acquisition target. No offer or transaction has been confirmed, so the catalyst remains speculative. PayPal takeover speculation
• Positive Sentiment: Tuition-payment integrations expand PayPal’s potential transaction volume. PayPal and Venmo are now available through Illumia, Nelnet Campus Commerce and TouchNet, with participating schools including Bellarmine University, Butler University, Kansas State University, Michigan State University and Texas Tech. The initiative adds a recurring, high-value payment use case, though its near-term revenue contribution is unclear. PayPal and Venmo tuition-payment expansion
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal outperformed some buy-now-pay-later peers. Klarna and Affirm declined as PayPal remained positive, suggesting investors may be favoring the scale, established customer base and broader financial-services platform of more mature payment companies. PayPal and BNPL stock rotation
• Neutral Sentiment: Options pricing reflects substantial uncertainty. The options market implies a broad potential trading range over the coming year, consistent with uncertainty surrounding PayPal’s turnaround prospects and possible corporate activity. PayPal options outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale was a modest cautionary signal. Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares worth approximately $253,716 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. She retained 30,983 shares, reducing the significance of the transaction as an indicator of business prospects. PayPal insider sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and valuation risks remain. TikTok is reportedly developing a peer-to-peer payment feature that could challenge Venmo’s social-payments positioning. Jim Cramer also warned that some fintech stocks, including PayPal, may be priced for optimistic outcomes. TikTok peer-to-peer payment report

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL opened at $62.30 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $51.73 and a 200 day moving average of $47.42. The stock has a market cap of $53.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.46 and a 52-week high of $79.21.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%.The business had revenue of $8.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

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

About PayPal

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.