Hennessy Advisors Inc. Buys 1,000 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 5.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PYPL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in PayPal by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,989 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $248,000. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,340,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its position in PayPal by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 65,391 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,581,000 after buying an additional 3,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in PayPal by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,619 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 3,795 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 13,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,020,248. This represents a 21.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Diego Scotti sold 3,839 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.24, for a total value of $281,168.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,244,274.36. The trade was a 18.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,796 shares of company stock worth $863,028 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PYPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Macquarie lowered their price target on PayPal from $117.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on PayPal from $104.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on PayPal from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on PayPal from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.29.

PayPal Trading Down 5.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $70.83 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.85 and a 1 year high of $93.66. The company has a market capitalization of $68.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its 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. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 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.