Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 12,300 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 12,300 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $2,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in PayPal by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in PayPal by 67.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,614,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,554,000 after acquiring an additional 10,356,256 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $949,758,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of PayPal by 227.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $624,364,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,215,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $713,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,843 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PayPal Trading Up 2.3%

PayPal stock opened at $60.59 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $51.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.30. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.46 and a 12 month high of $79.21.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%.PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is 10.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on PayPal from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on PayPal from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,749.60. This represents a 37.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 10,612 shares of company stock valued at $484,534 in the last 90 days. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About PayPal

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.