Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. cut its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,650 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 279 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $3,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in PayPal by 36.2% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 6,357 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 14.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,166,795 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $183,789,000 after purchasing an additional 409,322 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in PayPal by 50.3% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 15,754 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 5,269 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth $1,645,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal by 50.8% in the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,171 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 3,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Citigroup raised their target price on PayPal from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Macquarie raised their price objective on PayPal from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Stephens lifted their price objective on PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.32.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ PYPL traded up $0.44 on Thursday, hitting $90.08. The stock had a trading volume of 506,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,174,473. The company’s 50-day moving average is $86.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.31. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $55.77 and a one year high of $93.66. The stock has a market cap of $90.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. The business had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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.