PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Stake Reduced by Readystate Asset Management LP

Readystate Asset Management LP cut its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,888 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 38,357 shares during the period. Readystate Asset Management LP’s holdings in PayPal were worth $2,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in 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. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC acquired a new position in PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PYPL. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of PayPal from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on PayPal from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Argus set a $70.00 target price on PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.03.

Key PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Renewed takeover speculation, including reports of possible interest from Stripe and discussion of a potential bid near $50 billion, has provided support by raising the possibility of a premium transaction. The reports remain unconfirmed. PayPal Stock Jumps on Fresh Takeover Speculation
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal’s buy-now-pay-later, credit and debit products are expanding its financial-services offering and could increase customer engagement, transaction volume and revenue growth. PayPal’s BNPL and Credit Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is approaching an ex-dividend date, while its low earnings valuation may attract value-oriented investors. However, valuation support has not fully offset concerns about growth and execution. PayPal stock gains ahead of ex-dividend date
• Negative Sentiment: PayPal reportedly paused the proposed sale of its venture-capital portfolio after potential buyers offered substantially less than expected. The decision reduces near-term proceeds from a noncore-asset sale and suggests difficult market conditions for the portfolio. PayPal pauses venture portfolio sale
• Negative Sentiment: PayPal is eliminating 251 positions at its San Jose headquarters and has also cut jobs in India and Ireland as part of its multiyear restructuring. While the reductions could lower costs over time, the repeated layoffs highlight ongoing operational pressure and uncertainty about the turnaround. PayPal adds another round of layoffs

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $54.96 on Monday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.46 and a 12 month high of $79.21. The stock has a market cap of $47.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.65. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is 10.59%.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total value of $253,715.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,888,723.68. This represents a 11.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total transaction of $42,529.20. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. 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 6,231 shares of company stock valued at $373,924 over the last 90 days. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.