Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Makes New $2.02 Million Investment in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 46,799 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,021,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Rule One Partners LLC bought a new position in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,043,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $97,372,000. S&CO Inc. acquired a new stake in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,827,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in PayPal by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,608,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $117,987,000 after acquiring an additional 121,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of PayPal in a research note on Friday, July 24th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on PayPal from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on PayPal from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Clear Str upgraded PayPal to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total transaction of $77,679.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares in the company, valued at $128,749.60. This represents a 37.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $42,529.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,415,042.70. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,774 shares of company stock worth $738,249. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $61.68 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.46 and a 52-week high of $79.21. The company has a market capitalization of $52.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.29.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.10. PayPal had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The company had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.59%.

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.