Eukles Asset Management Decreases Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Eukles Asset Management decreased its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,341 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 655 shares during the quarter. Eukles Asset Management’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in PayPal by 12.5% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,246,996 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $144,215,000 after purchasing an additional 138,875 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its stake in PayPal by 8.6% during the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,894 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in PayPal by 15.4% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,860 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in PayPal by 136.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in PayPal by 5.3% during the first quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 3,095 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on PYPL shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on PayPal from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on PayPal from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price target on PayPal from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.47.

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.18. 6,857,468 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,494,979. The firm has a market cap of $65.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.27 and its 200 day moving average is $59.90. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $50.25 and a one year high of $76.54.

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

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Company 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.