Fifth Third Bancorp Purchases 124,629 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 176.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 195,337 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 124,629 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in PayPal were worth $8,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of PayPal by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares during the period. Rule One Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,043,000. Step Capital Management Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,130,000. Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 705.2% during the 4th quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 100,651 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,876,000 after purchasing an additional 88,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenwich Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 61.0% during the 4th quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,830 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,346,000 after purchasing an additional 47,653 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PYPL shares. BTIG Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday. Barclays started coverage on PayPal in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on PayPal from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on PayPal from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised PayPal from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.91.

PayPal Stock Up 17.2%

PYPL stock opened at $55.51 on Thursday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.46 and a 1-year high of $79.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.97 billion, a PE ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.33.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In related news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,325,762.57. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total value of $536,170.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,076,687.32. The trade was a 20.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 20,612 shares of company stock valued at $966,623 in the last ninety days. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PayPal News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Stripe and Advent reportedly offered to acquire PayPal for $60.50 a share, valuing the company at more than $53 billion and lifting PYPL sharply on takeover speculation. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also encouraged by PayPal’s recent operating performance, including a solid earnings beat and stronger-than-expected revenue growth, which supports the view that the stock was undervalued before the bid. MarketBeat overview
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts and commentators are calling the offer “lowball,” and there is no certainty the deal will close, especially given likely regulatory scrutiny for combining two major payments players.
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal’s recent turnaround efforts, including cost-cutting plans and its Venmo franchise, are being viewed as reasons the business could be worth more than the initial bid, potentially setting up a bidding contest.

PayPal Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive payments online, on mobile devices and at the point of sale. The company provides a broad set of payment solutions, including a digital wallet, merchant payment processing, checkout services, invoicing and fraud-management tools. PayPal’s platform is designed to support e-commerce, in-person retail and person-to-person transfers, targeting both individual consumers and businesses of varying sizes.

Key products and services in PayPal’s portfolio include the PayPal wallet and checkout ecosystem, the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile app, Braintree’s developer-focused payment gateway, Xoom for international money transfers, and PayPal Credit and buy-now-pay-later options.