American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 293,624 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 20.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,696,689 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 293,624 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $144,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal by 86.3% in the 3rd 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 period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the third quarter worth $387,435,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,689,162 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at $135,537,000. Finally, Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 4th quarter worth about $81,342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on PYPL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,308.10. The trade was a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PayPal Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $70.19 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $78.19 and its 200 day moving average is $80.92. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.97 and a 52 week high of $93.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $69.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52.

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