Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 2,138 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 46.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,478 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,138 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $749,561,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $190,371,000 after buying an additional 2,616,774 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal by 29.5% in 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 period. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in PayPal by 271.6% in 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 period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in PayPal by 125.1% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,724,188 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $105,882,000 after buying an additional 958,130 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total transaction of $466,079.04. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PYPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, February 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.47.

PayPal Stock Up 2.9 %

PYPL stock traded up $1.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $65.96. The stock had a trading volume of 14,190,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,031,016. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $50.25 and a one year high of $76.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average is $62.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.19. The company has a market capitalization of $69.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.12. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $8.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

About PayPal

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.