Korea Investment CORP Grows Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 26.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 862,393 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 181,847 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in PayPal were worth $73,605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $828,000. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter worth approximately $321,000. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $276,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in PayPal by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $69.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.97 and a 1-year high of $93.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.85.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PayPal news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on PYPL. Bank of America upgraded shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.03.

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.