Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Raises Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 51.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 344,990 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 117,050 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in PayPal were worth $15,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $949,758,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 355.1% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,967,170 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $224,665,000 after acquiring an additional 3,875,688 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,089,586 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $297,130,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,286 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 261.5% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,291,213 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $133,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657,458 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,325,762.57. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total transaction of $536,170.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,076,687.32. The trade was a 20.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on PayPal from $41.00 to $43.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on PayPal from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of PayPal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.01.

PayPal News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal joined the European Payments Council, a move that could strengthen its role in shaping European payment rules and support long-term growth in the region. PayPal Stock (PYPL) Pops 3% on Joining EU Payments Council
• Positive Sentiment: Additional coverage highlighted PayPal’s EPC membership as a strategic step toward influencing the future of European payments and instant-transfer infrastructure. PayPal Secures EPC Seat to Help Guide Future of European Payments
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusual options activity included cheap out-of-the-money July 10 calls in PYPL, suggesting speculative trading interest rather than a clear fundamental catalyst. Five July 4th Fireworks: Unusual Options Activity Flags Cheap Lottery-Ticket Calls in CHWY, AVGO, PYPL, STLA and WMT
• Neutral Sentiment: A shareholder litigation firm said it is investigating PayPal’s officers and directors for possible fiduciary-duty issues, but this is only an early-stage legal probe and not a formal case. Kuehn Law Encourages Investors of PayPal Holdings, Inc. to Contact Law Firm

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL opened at $45.47 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $44.49 and a 200 day moving average of $48.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.46 and a 12 month high of $79.50. The firm has a market cap of $40.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.33.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is presently 10.51%.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive payments online, on mobile devices and at the point of sale. The company provides a broad set of payment solutions, including a digital wallet, merchant payment processing, checkout services, invoicing and fraud-management tools. PayPal’s platform is designed to support e-commerce, in-person retail and person-to-person transfers, targeting both individual consumers and businesses of varying sizes.

Key products and services in PayPal’s portfolio include the PayPal wallet and checkout ecosystem, the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile app, Braintree’s developer-focused payment gateway, Xoom for international money transfers, and PayPal Credit and buy-now-pay-later options.