Vest Financial LLC Buys 4,703 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 69.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,469 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,703 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PYPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $1,086,508,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in PayPal by 108.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,529,823,000 after buying an additional 9,313,783 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in PayPal by 284.0% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,804,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $666,100,000 after buying an additional 5,772,198 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in PayPal by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,615,134,000 after buying an additional 2,161,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in PayPal by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,462,251 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $892,953,000 after buying an additional 1,669,908 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $73.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $71.41 billion, a PE ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.13. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.85 and a fifty-two week high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.84 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 3,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.00, for a total value of $277,035.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,020,248. This trade represents a 21.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PYPL. DZ Bank upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Arete Research set a $81.00 target price on PayPal in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on PayPal from $110.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on PayPal from $103.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.29.

About PayPal

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.