Private Trust Co. NA Acquires 1,487 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,512 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,487 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in PayPal were worth $707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in PayPal by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,423,344 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,449,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202,956 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.1% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,947,345 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,586,966,000 after acquiring an additional 235,651 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 4.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,069,337 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,173,254,000 after acquiring an additional 873,181 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 110,462.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,136,071 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,220,431,000 after acquiring an additional 17,120,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,022,333,000. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PYPL shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of PayPal from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Argus cut shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total transaction of $466,079.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PayPal Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $65.15 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.54. The company has a market cap of $69.82 billion, a PE ratio of 16.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.45. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.25 and a 52-week high of $77.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 20.84%. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a technology platform that enables digital payments on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. It operates a two-sided network at scale that connects merchants and consumers that enables its customers to connect, transact, and send and receive payments through online and in person, as well as transfer and withdraw funds using various funding sources, such as bank accounts, PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products comprising its installment products, credit and debit cards, and cryptocurrencies, as well as other stored value products, including gift cards and eligible rewards.