Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 124,497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,220 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $10,626,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in PayPal by 12,919.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $819,315,000 after acquiring an additional 10,419,351 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $387,435,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 28.1% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after buying an additional 1,866,925 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal by 9,864.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,119,262 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $87,336,000 after buying an additional 1,108,030 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on PayPal from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on PayPal from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Phillip Securities reissued an “accumulate” rating and set a $90.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.32.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $91.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $92.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.77 and a fifty-two week high of $93.66. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities research 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.