Merit Financial Group LLC Sells 70,039 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Merit Financial Group LLC reduced its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 37.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 114,587 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 70,039 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $4,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at $949,758,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in PayPal by 67.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,614,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,158,554,000 after buying an additional 10,356,256 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in PayPal by 227.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $624,364,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,488 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in PayPal by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of PayPal by 355.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,967,170 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $224,665,000 after acquiring an additional 3,875,688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PYPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC assumed coverage on PayPal in a research report on Friday, July 24th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of PayPal from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Clear Str raised shares of PayPal to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.72.

Insider Activity

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,325,762.57. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 transaction of $42,529.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,042.70. The trade was a 1.73% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,612 shares of company stock valued at $484,534. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PayPal stock opened at $60.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.83 billion, a PE ratio of 11.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.46 and a 12 month high of $79.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $49.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.18.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.47 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%.PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio 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.