Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC Trims Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 20.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,180 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 10,221 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 31.4% in the 1st quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 9,595 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 2,295 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. grew its stake in PayPal by 125.6% in the first quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 9,828 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 5,472 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in PayPal by 26.2% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in PayPal by 5.0% in the first quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 6,292 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisortrust Partners LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 62.3% in the first quarter. Advisortrust Partners LLC now owns 10,238 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $463,000 after buying an additional 3,931 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL opened at $56.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.23. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.46 and a fifty-two week high of $79.50. The firm has a market cap of $49.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.33.

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

PayPal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors 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 yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.51%.

Key Stories Impacting PayPal

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on PYPL shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on PayPal from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on PayPal from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on PayPal from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on PayPal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $144,587.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,325,762.57. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total transaction of $66,128.02. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,443.56. This trade represents a 45.74% decrease in their position. 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 a total of 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623 in the last three months. 0.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PayPal Company 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.