Sapient Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 13,126 PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 13,126 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $806,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in PayPal by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,967 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $981,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of PayPal by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,115,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $129,919,000 after acquiring an additional 582,300 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of PayPal by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 69,984 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,298,000 after acquiring an additional 8,450 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of PayPal by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 11,870 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments increased its position in shares of PayPal by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 10,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $619,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PYPL. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $66.00 price target (down from $118.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.73.

PayPal Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL traded down $1.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $65.70. 15,435,157 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,651,739. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.29. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.25 and a 12-month high of $76.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.52 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 21.58% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.