Monaco Asset Management SAM Reduces Stock Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Monaco Asset Management SAM lowered its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 84.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 47,500 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 262,500 shares during the quarter. PayPal comprises approximately 0.6% of Monaco Asset Management SAM’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Monaco Asset Management SAM’s holdings in PayPal were worth $4,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC raised its position in PayPal by 113.8% in the fourth 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 acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth about $387,435,000. Equity Investment Corp raised its holdings in PayPal by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $155,927,000 after buying an additional 67,497 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its position in PayPal by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 33,302 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in PayPal by 120.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,555,240 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $125,461,000 after buying an additional 849,311 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PYPL. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on PayPal from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on PayPal from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.03.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL stock opened at $66.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $66.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.69, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.90. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.97 and a twelve month high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.48 EPS. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In related news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,145,308.10. This trade represents a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.