Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,220 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $10,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 86.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,307,945,000 after purchasing an additional 7,767,072 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 12,919.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $819,315,000 after acquiring an additional 10,419,351 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,636,644 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $501,184,000 after acquiring an additional 276,287 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,925 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in PayPal by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,015,816 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $469,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069,356 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PayPal stock opened at $91.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $87.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.49. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.77 and a twelve month high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. The business had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.32.

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.