Empirical Finance LLC Buys 1,294 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $2,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its stake in PayPal by 77.5% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. American National Bank bought a new position in PayPal during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PayPal during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $84.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, May 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.82.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In related news, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 4,422 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.65, for a total transaction of $272,616.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $861,620.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PayPal Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of PYPL traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $60.24. 8,057,093 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,712,364. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.25 and a fifty-two week high of $76.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.02 and a 200-day moving average of $62.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.42.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.14). PayPal had a return on equity of 21.58% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.14 EPS 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.