Merit Financial Group LLC Has $10.63 Million Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 124,497 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 17,220 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in PayPal were worth $10,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in PayPal by 14.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,166,795 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $183,789,000 after buying an additional 409,322 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,645,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal by 50.8% during the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,171 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 3,763 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in PayPal by 50.6% during the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, WCG Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the second quarter valued at $702,000. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on PYPL. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded PayPal from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.32.

PayPal Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of PayPal stock traded up $2.89 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $91.81. The company had a trading volume of 16,468,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,562,702. The firm has a market cap of $92.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $87.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.77 and a fifty-two week high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. PayPal's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Company 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.