Paragon Financial Partners Inc. Sells 301 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Paragon Financial Partners Inc. lessened its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,310 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 301 shares during the period. Paragon Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 113.8% during 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 purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $810,000. FCG Investment Co purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,079,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $155,927,000 after acquiring an additional 67,497 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Phillip Securities reiterated an “accumulate” rating and set a $90.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on PayPal from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on PayPal from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Fourteen investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.32.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ PYPL opened at $89.85 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $87.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.77 and a 1-year high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $7.85 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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.