Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 163,582 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,230 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $12,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PYPL. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PayPal by 77.5% during the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its stake in PayPal by 125.3% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 437 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of PayPal by 65.8% during the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 466 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 50.6% during the 2nd quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PYPL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $70.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on PayPal from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on PayPal from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.77.

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL traded down $5.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $78.05. 12,160,602 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,525,823. The stock has a market cap of $81.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.44. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.58 and a 12 month high of $83.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The firm had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current 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.