Westpac Banking Corp Buys 14,992 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Westpac Banking Corp raised its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) by 74.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,253 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,992 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in PayPal were worth $3,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal by 113.8% in the 4th quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 7,470 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,976 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the third quarter valued at approximately $387,435,000. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 697,077 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $59,489,000 after buying an additional 18,172 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc. grew its position in PayPal by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 27,249 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,326,000 after buying an additional 11,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 33,302 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,842,000 after acquiring an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PYPL. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of PayPal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $92.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of PayPal from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $107.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.13.

PayPal Stock Down 5.4 %

Shares of PayPal stock traded down $3.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.37. 22,102,706 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,304,477. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.74 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.52. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.97 and a 1-year high of $93.66.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The company had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.48 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of PayPal 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 directly owns 29,734 shares in the company, valued at $2,145,308.10. This trade represents a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.