Quantessence Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 47,589 PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 47,589 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,062,000. PayPal comprises approximately 1.7% of Quantessence Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,736,394 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,849,884,000 after buying an additional 271,836 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in PayPal by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,615,134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,582 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 108.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,529,823,000 after purchasing an additional 9,313,783 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,086,508,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,283,915 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $707,032,000 after purchasing an additional 144,402 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares in the company, valued at $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PayPal Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PYPL stock traded up $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $65.34. 8,679,009 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,458,497. The stock has a market cap of $64.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.72. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.85 and a fifty-two week high of $93.66. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.48 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PYPL. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of PayPal from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI began coverage on PayPal in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded PayPal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on PayPal from $104.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued 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 $85.88.

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.