Carnegie Investment Counsel Purchases 113,802 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 186.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 174,899 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 113,802 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in PayPal were worth $7,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 6.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 355.1% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,967,170 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $224,665,000 after acquiring an additional 3,875,688 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 143.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,089,586 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $297,130,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 261.5% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,291,213 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $133,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657,458 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts say PayPal still has support from rising payment volumes, Venmo growth, and ongoing technology upgrades, which could help long-term earnings and transaction growth. Is PYPL Stock Worth Retaining in Your Portfolio for the Long Run?
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin launching natively on Polygon is boosting interest in the company’s digital assets strategy and could strengthen its payments ecosystem over time. PayPal boosts its stablecoin as banks prepare to launch a shared one
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles note conflicting analyst views on PayPal, suggesting the stock still has divided Wall Street support rather than a clear consensus. Analysts Have Conflicting Sentiments on These Financial Companies: American Express (AXP), Robinhood (HOOD) and PayPal Holdings (PYPL)
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal is still being viewed as a value stock by some investors, but commentary suggests the turnaround is not complete and the market remains cautious on execution. 2 Value Stocks for Long-Term Investors and 1 We Avoid
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays reportedly upgraded PayPal to “strong sell,” reinforcing concerns about near-term pressure and helping explain the stock’s weaker performance trend. Zacks.com
• Negative Sentiment: TipRanks noted PayPal is down nearly 22% year to date, reflecting investor skepticism about the pace of its turnaround and ongoing competitive/macro risks. PayPal (PYPL) Stock Is Down 22% YTD; Let’s Look at Who Owns the Stock?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of PayPal from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on PayPal from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.91.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ PYPL opened at $46.32 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.39. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.46 and a 12-month high of $79.50. The company has a market capitalization of $40.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.33. 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 (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. Analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.51%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total transaction of $196,194.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $1,768,260.18. The trade was a 9.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total value of $66,128.02. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,443.56. The trade was a 45.74% 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 90 days, insiders sold 20,612 shares of company stock valued at $966,623. Company 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.