Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 965 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 57,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 965 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in PayPal were worth $3,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sutton Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of PayPal by 115.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sutton Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 443 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 58.6% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 609 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $65.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $68.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.41. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.25 and a fifty-two week high of $76.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $63.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.63.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted 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). PayPal had a return on equity of 21.58% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on PayPal from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Twenty-five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PayPal news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.