PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL Stock: Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Stake

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 8.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,178,304 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 210,342 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.25% of PayPal worth $114,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in PayPal during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Robinswood Financial LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 448.3% during the 3rd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 636 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total value of $40,530.84. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,301,564.79. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.80, for a total transaction of $30,249.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,520. The trade was a 18.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 13,437 shares of company stock worth $768,417 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $58.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $55.31 and a 200-day moving average of $50.05. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.46 and a 52 week high of $70.35. The company has a market capitalization of $48.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.27.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $8.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 24th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PYPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Telsey Advisory Group downgraded PayPal to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on PayPal from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. UBS Group cut their price target on PayPal from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on PayPal from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.94.

PayPal Company Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and businesses to send, receive, and manage money online and through mobile devices. Its services support online checkout, peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, payment processing, invoicing, and other commerce-related transactions.

The company’s portfolio includes the PayPal and Venmo brands, Braintree’s payment processing technology, and Xoom’s international money transfer service. PayPal also offers merchant tools, digital wallets, payment solutions, and consumer financing products through its platform and related services.

PayPal traces its origins to 1998 and became an independent publicly traded company after separating from eBay in 2015.