Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super Takes $25.20 Million Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 557,261 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $25,205,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in PayPal by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after buying an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $949,758,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in PayPal by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,215,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $713,158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,843 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in PayPal by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,803,241 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $513,966,000 after acquiring an additional 625,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 1.6% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 8,493,311 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $605,488,000 after acquiring an additional 132,837 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal surged after reports that Stripe and Advent made a $53 billion acquisition offer at $60.50 per share, creating a takeover premium and boosting investor optimism. Reuters: Stripe, Advent offer to buy PayPal for more than $53 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are arguing the bid undervalues PayPal, with some estimates pointing to a higher fair value around $70 a share or more, which keeps takeover speculation alive. Article: Cantor sees potential for higher PayPal offer as analysis suggests $70/share value
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target to $55 and Canaccord lifted its target to $55, signaling some improvement in outlook, though both targets remain below the recent trading level. Article: Paypal (PYPL) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal’s board is reportedly viewing the Stripe-Advent proposal as inadequate, suggesting negotiations could continue and the final outcome is still uncertain. Reuters: PayPal board sees Stripe-Advent offer as inadequate, sources say
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and financing hurdles could complicate or delay any deal, which may temper some of the takeover enthusiasm if no quick resolution emerges. Reuters: PayPal board sees Stripe-Advent offer as inadequate, sources say

PayPal Stock Up 2.2%

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $56.73 on Friday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $38.46 and a one year high of $79.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $50.04 billion, a PE ratio of 10.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.16.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of PayPal from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of PayPal from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.61.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related news, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total value of $196,194.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $1,768,260.18. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total value of $66,128.02. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,443.56. This represents a 45.74% 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 sold 20,612 shares of company stock worth $966,623 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Company Profile

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.