PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stake Raised by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 488.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,772 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,732 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sutton Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 115.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sutton Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 443 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 58.6% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 609 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on PayPal from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Susquehanna raised their target price on PayPal from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup lowered their target price on PayPal from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of PYPL opened at $65.96 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. 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 $69.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About PayPal

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.