Ceera Investments LLC Purchases 4,207 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Ceera Investments LLC increased its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 5.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,936 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,207 shares during the period. PayPal accounts for 2.0% of Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $4,639,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $749,561,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 15.8% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,644,317 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $445,103,000 after acquiring an additional 904,804 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of PayPal by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,668,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,283,000 after buying an additional 61,384 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in PayPal by 5.1% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 3,046,502 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $176,789,000 after acquiring an additional 146,643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in PayPal by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,891,840 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $177,541,000 after purchasing an additional 306,613 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PYPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.56.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL traded down $3.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $68.89. 12,304,156 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,207,560. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $64.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $70.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.43. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.25 and a 1 year high of $74.40.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.20. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The company had revenue of $7.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.42 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.