Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Boosts Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 70.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,755 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,114 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in PayPal were worth $906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 420.6% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,238,980 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $190,371,000 after buying an additional 2,616,774 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 29.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,916,982 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $404,367,000 after buying an additional 1,575,930 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 271.6% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,533,300 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $89,637,000 after buying an additional 1,120,700 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 4.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,069,337 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,173,254,000 after buying an additional 873,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in PayPal by 56.5% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,395,312 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $140,030,000 after purchasing an additional 864,684 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PYPL. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on PayPal from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. DZ Bank lowered PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $64.43. 9,897,597 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,395,941. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.25 and a 1-year high of $76.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.04.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.12. PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current 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.