Griffin Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. cut its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,749 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,179 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $320,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in PayPal in the 2nd quarter worth about $435,000. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 307,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $17,821,000 after buying an additional 10,034 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after buying an additional 2,503 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in PayPal by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Finally, Greenvale Capital LLP increased its holdings in PayPal by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. Greenvale Capital LLP now owns 2,675,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $155,230,000 after acquiring an additional 525,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PYPL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities reaffirmed an “accumulate” rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of PayPal in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Fourteen 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.48.

PayPal Trading Down 2.3 %

PYPL opened at $88.19 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $88.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.44. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.77 and a 52 week high of $93.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.27.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. PayPal’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

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.