Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Boosts Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 20.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,353 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,787 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $2,420,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at about $10,020,000. Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne Allianz Polska S.A. purchased a new stake in PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,079,000. Easterly Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $1,086,508,000. Finally, LM Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of PayPal by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. LM Advisors LLC now owns 14,705 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 3,160 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PYPL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.40.

PayPal Stock Up 1.3 %

PYPL stock opened at $66.10 on Wednesday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.97 and a 52 week high of $93.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.48 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares in the company, valued at $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.