Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 210,952 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,362,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,989 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $248,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PayPal by 41.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares during the period. United Bank raised its stake in PayPal by 40.1% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 17,388 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 4,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in PayPal by 17.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,909 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PYPL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group set a $45.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Mizuho set a $51.00 target price on PayPal in a research note on Friday. Loop Capital reduced their target price on PayPal from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on PayPal from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.14.

Key PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some market observers argue that PayPal’s board protected potentially greater long-term shareholder value by rejecting the reported $60.50-per-share offer, which valued the company at approximately $53 billion. Options pricing also continues to indicate a bullish bias among some traders. PayPal Drops 12% Overnight on Dead Stripe Deal
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal remains an independent turnaround story, with recent initiatives expanding PayPal and Venmo tuition-payment integrations through campus platforms. Investors will now focus more closely on whether management can improve growth and execution without takeover support. PayPal Tuition Payment Push
• Neutral Sentiment: The failed transaction removes a major change-of-control catalyst and returns attention to PayPal’s standalone fundamentals. The company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, but revenue growth remained modest and earnings per share declined year over year, leaving execution of its turnaround as the key valuation driver.
• Negative Sentiment: The reported withdrawal eliminates the takeover premium that had supported PYPL during weeks of deal speculation. Reports cited valuation concerns, regulatory hurdles and a breakdown in negotiations; the abrupt reversal has therefore prompted investors to reassess PayPal at its lower standalone valuation. PayPal Shares Fall After Consortium Abandons Takeover Pursuit
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts, including Mizuho, are highlighting risks facing PayPal after the deal collapsed. The heavy trading volume and test of the 50-day moving average indicate heightened uncertainty as investors await evidence that the company can generate sufficient growth independently. Why PayPal Stock Is Down and What Mizuho Thinks Comes Next

PayPal Price Performance

PayPal stock opened at $53.66 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $53.88 and its 200 day moving average is $48.11. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $38.46 and a one year high of $79.21. The firm has a market cap of $45.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.30. 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 (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $8.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is presently 10.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 2,216 shares in the company, valued at $128,749.60. The trade was a 37.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total transaction of $196,194.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,768,260.18. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,774 shares of company stock worth $738,249. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

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.