Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Decreases Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lowered its position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,993 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,580 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PYPL. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust lifted its stake in PayPal by 6.4% in the third quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 2,395 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in PayPal by 3.3% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,724 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 3.8% during the third quarter. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc now owns 4,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 50.6% in the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PYPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.65.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PayPal stock opened at $83.99 on Tuesday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.77 and a 1 year high of $93.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $86.75 and its 200 day moving average is $76.10. The stock has a market cap of $84.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The firm had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Company 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.