Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 8,691 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC cut its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 241,873 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 8,691 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $14,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,069,337 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,173,254,000 after acquiring an additional 873,181 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in PayPal by 0.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,767,054 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $687,902,000 after purchasing an additional 78,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 worth $404,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575,930 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,906,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $286,835,000 after buying an additional 215,835 shares during the period. Finally, Atreides Management LP increased its position in shares of PayPal by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 4,174,520 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $244,042,000 after buying an additional 355,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

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 transaction of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL traded down $1.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $65.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,435,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,651,739. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.56. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.25 and a 1-year high of $76.54. The stock has a market cap of $68.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $7.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 21.58%. PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PYPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their target price on PayPal from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $66.00 target price (down from $118.00) on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Twenty-five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.73.

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.