Ardent Capital Management Inc. Cuts Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Ardent Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 105,667 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 8,867 shares during the quarter. PayPal comprises about 4.1% of Ardent Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Ardent Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in PayPal were worth $9,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 86.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,307,945,000 after purchasing an additional 7,767,072 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 12,919.4% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $819,315,000 after purchasing an additional 10,419,351 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in PayPal by 21.6% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,015,816 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $469,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069,356 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PayPal in the third quarter valued at about $387,435,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in PayPal by 174.1% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 4,233,341 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $361,316,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689,162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna upped their price objective on PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America upgraded PayPal from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Macquarie increased their price objective on PayPal from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on PayPal from $88.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $90.52.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PYPL traded down $2.68 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,156,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,485,007. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $56.97 and a one year high of $93.66. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $85.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The company had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. PayPal's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.