Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Acquires 62,886 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 36.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 234,578 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 62,886 shares during the period. PayPal accounts for 1.6% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $14,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,926 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in PayPal during the third quarter worth about $33,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its stake in PayPal by 11.2% during the third quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 7,988 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 806 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,318 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 1,868 shares during the period. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 7,603 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $444,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PayPal from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Twenty-five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.73.

PayPal Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of PYPL traded down $2.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $63.81. The stock had a trading volume of 11,175,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,367,253. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.25 and a 1 year high of $76.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $63.93 and its 200 day moving average is $60.72. The firm has a market cap of $66.75 billion, a PE ratio of 16.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.41.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 21.58% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.