Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 78.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 300,259 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 131,872 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $18,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter worth about $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of PayPal by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 847,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,344,000 after buying an additional 73,687 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in PayPal by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,183,000 after buying an additional 942 shares during the period. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. grew its stake in PayPal by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 21,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after buying an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was 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 approximately $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PYPL shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.53.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PayPal stock opened at $63.56 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.15 and a 200 day moving average of $59.89. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.25 and a 52 week high of $76.54. The company has a market cap of $66.91 billion, a PE ratio of 16.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $8.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 20.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current 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.