Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Invests $679,000 in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 15,731 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $679,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 15,233.3% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PayPal Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ PYPL opened at $61.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $51.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.35. 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.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) 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%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.59%.

Key Stories Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal and Venmo are expanding into higher-education tuition payments through integrations with Illumia, Nelnet Campus Commerce and TouchNet. The services are already available at schools including Michigan State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Butler and Bellarmine, potentially increasing transaction volume and everyday use of PayPal’s wallets. PayPal and Venmo Expand to Tuition Payments
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Stripe and Advent International have renewed interest in a potential PayPal transaction are supporting the shares by reinforcing takeover speculation. However, no deal has been announced, so this remains a potential catalyst rather than a confirmed development. PayPal Buyout Talks Resurface
• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler raised its price target to $59 while maintaining a Neutral rating, indicating greater recognition of potential value beyond PayPal’s checkout business. Piper Sandler Raises PayPal Price Target

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total value of $253,715.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,888,723.68. The trade was a 11.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total transaction of $196,194.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,768,260.18. This represents a 9.99% 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 14,774 shares of company stock worth $738,249. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PYPL. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Argus set a $70.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on PayPal from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.28.

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.