Rafferty Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 562,201 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,134 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $47,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PYPL. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $707,000. Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,447,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of PayPal by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,372,425 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $117,136,000 after purchasing an additional 202,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of PayPal by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 126,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,774,000 after purchasing an additional 41,611 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PYPL. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Compass Point began coverage on PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. DZ Bank upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,145,308.10. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PayPal Stock Performance

PayPal stock opened at $72.68 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.85 and a fifty-two week high of $93.66. The company has a market capitalization of $70.68 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.51.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.17. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

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.