Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 526,914 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,248,608 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 526,914 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in PayPal were worth $282,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at about $949,758,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in PayPal by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of PayPal by 355.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,967,170 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $224,665,000 after acquiring an additional 3,875,688 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PayPal by 143.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,089,586 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $297,130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 261.5% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,291,213 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $133,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,458 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,325,762.57. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total value of $66,128.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,443.56. This represents a 45.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623. 0.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on PYPL. Barclays upgraded PayPal from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $42.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $41.00 to $43.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of PayPal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of PayPal from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.61.

PayPal News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The reported takeover interest from Stripe and Advent has fueled speculation that PayPal could be worth more than the current offer, with several analysts and investors arguing the bid is too low. Reuters: PayPal board sees Stripe-Advent offer as inadequate, sources say
• Positive Sentiment: Some market commentary suggests the bid could force a higher valuation for PYPL, potentially supporting further upside if negotiations continue or a competing offer emerges. Yahoo Finance: Cantor sees potential for higher PayPal offer as analysis suggests $70/share value
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal’s board has reportedly not formally responded yet, so the deal is still early-stage and subject to negotiation, financing, and regulatory risk. Yahoo Finance weekly review
• Negative Sentiment: The board is said to view the $53 billion proposal as inadequate, which could mean a longer path to any deal or no deal at all if a higher price does not materialize. PYMNTS: PayPal Board Calls $53 Billion Stripe-Advent Bid Inadequate

PayPal Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ PYPL opened at $56.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.89 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.46 and a 52 week high of $79.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is 10.51%.

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.