Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,182,316 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,193 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of PayPal worth $92,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter worth about $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in PayPal during the third quarter worth about $810,000. FCG Investment Co purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the third quarter valued at about $1,079,000. Equity Investment Corp grew its position in shares of PayPal by 3.5% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $155,927,000 after purchasing an additional 67,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weil Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 68.9% during the 3rd quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 41,689 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 17,003 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on PYPL shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Phillip Securities reiterated an “accumulate” rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, November 1st. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.42.

PayPal Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of PYPL opened at $87.13 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $84.65 and a 200-day moving average of $73.13. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.77 and a 52 week high of $93.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal 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.