Leavell Investment Management Inc. Acquires 7,196 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 40.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,207 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,196 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $2,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal by 86.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,307,945,000 after buying an additional 7,767,072 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of 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 during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in PayPal by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,015,816 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $469,414,000 after buying an additional 1,069,356 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in PayPal during the third quarter worth about $387,435,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in PayPal by 174.1% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 4,233,341 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $361,316,000 after acquiring an additional 2,689,162 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Stephens lifted their price objective on PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.52.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $76.27 on Thursday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.97 and a 12 month high of $93.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.17 and a 200-day moving average of $80.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $75.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS 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.