California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 100,417 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,972,185 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 100,417 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.18% of PayPal worth $121,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after buying an additional 740 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in PayPal by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 847,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,344,000 after buying an additional 73,687 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of PayPal by 4.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. grew its position in shares of PayPal by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 21,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL stock opened at $64.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.04. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.25 and a 1-year high of $76.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $67.82 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the topic of several research reports. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Citigroup reduced their price target on PayPal from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Susquehanna increased their price target on PayPal from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. JMP Securities increased their price target on PayPal from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Argus downgraded PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.47.

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.