Prudential Financial Inc. Cuts Stock Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,968,112 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 459,738 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.20% of PayPal worth $167,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew 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 worth $1,307,945,000 after purchasing an additional 7,767,072 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $387,435,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in PayPal by 174.1% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 2,689,162 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $135,537,000. Finally, Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $81,342,000. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL traded down $1.11 on Thursday, reaching $68.86. 7,878,585 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,855,984. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.76. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.97 and a 12 month high of $93.66. The firm has a market cap of $68.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company earned $1.48 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PYPL shares. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of PayPal from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $85.00 to $76.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $90.03.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 29,734 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About PayPal

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.