Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 384,474 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 23.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,221,461 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 384,474 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP owned about 0.12% of PayPal worth $95,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,472,635 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $98,653,000 after acquiring an additional 23,991 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 46,381 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,107,000 after buying an additional 4,169 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its position in PayPal by 1,030.1% during the 1st quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 30,162 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after buying an additional 27,493 shares in the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in PayPal during the first quarter valued at $64,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in PayPal by 5.4% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 10,485 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PYPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on PayPal from $74.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.60.

PayPal Stock Performance

PayPal stock opened at $86.94 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.71 and a twelve month high of $88.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $81.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.06. The company has a market cap of $87.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.43.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. The company had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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.