PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Stock: Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Decreases Stake

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA decreased its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 457,558 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 27,341 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.06% of PayPal worth $24,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Robinswood Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the first quarter worth $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in PayPal during the second quarter worth $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in PayPal during the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its position in PayPal by 448.3% during the third quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 636 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group cut shares of PayPal to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.37.

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL opened at $59.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $49.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $67.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.14.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $8.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 13.78%. PayPal’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.69%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, CAO Chris Natali sold 552 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.80, for a total transaction of $30,249.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $131,520. This trade represents a 18.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 PayPal stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.43, for a total transaction of $255,643.16. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,304,058.81. This trade 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 sold 13,437 shares of company stock valued at $768,417. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal News Summary

These are some of the PYPL news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor interest offered a bullish signal: David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital added to PayPal, and Michael Burry also increased his position. One report noted PayPal had gained 36% since June 30 and still traded at about 10 times forward earnings, below its five-year average. Article: David Einhorn’s Best Buy Is Already Up 36%. Is It Too Late to Follow Him? Article: Michael Burry Re-Enters LULU On Weakness, Boosts Positions in PayPal and Other Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target to $60 from $55, though it maintained a “market perform” rating, suggesting only limited upside at the then-current share price.
• Neutral Sentiment: A Yahoo Finance article highlighted a case that PayPal could be substantially undervalued, but also reported that Barclays had cut its rating—an indication of continuing analyst disagreement about the stock’s prospects. Article: PayPal Stock May Be 50% Undervalued As Barclays Cuts Rating

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc. operates a global digital payments platform that helps consumers and businesses send and receive payments online and in person. Its services include PayPal checkout and digital wallets, Venmo peer-to-peer payments, Braintree payment processing for merchants, and Xoom international money transfers. The company traces its roots to Confinity, founded in 1998, and the online payments business that developed through its merger with X.com. PayPal became part of eBay in 2002 and was spun off as an independent public company in 2015.