The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company significantly increased its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 71.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company’s most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC.
Key Details of the Investment
The firm owned 3,011,752 shares of PayPal’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,253,652 shares during the quarter. This stake represented about 0.30% of PayPal, valued at $257,053,000 at the end of the quarter.
Other Institutional Investors’ Moves
Other large investors also adjusted their positions in PayPal:
- Park Place Capital Corp increased its stake by 6.6%
- Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings by 67.6%
- JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake by 33.2%
- Wynn Capital LLC increased its holdings by 1.1%
- Avalon Trust Co raised its position by 7.0%
Institutional investors collectively own 68.32% of PayPal’s stock.
Analyst Ratings and Stock Performance
Several analysts have recently weighed in on PayPal’s stock:
- StockNews.com downgraded PayPal from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’
- Wells Fargo & Company lowered its target price from $80.00 to $74.00 with an ‘equal weight’ rating
- Seaport Res Ptn downgraded to ‘strong sell’
- DZ Bank upgraded to ‘buy’ with a $92.00 price target
- Citigroup reissued an ‘outperform’ rating
PayPal has a consensus rating of ‘Moderate Buy’ and a consensus price target of $85.88 among analysts.
Company Performance
PayPal reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter ending February 4th, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $1.11. The company had revenue of $8.37 billion, compared to estimates of $8.27 billion. PayPal’s quarterly revenue increased by 4.2% year-over-year.
Market Data
PayPal’s stock opened at $65.34, with a fifty-day moving average of $66.76 and a two-hundred-day moving average of $78.58. The company has a market capitalization of $64.64 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29.
Analysts anticipate PayPal will post $5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock, with Director Gail J. Mcgovern recently selling 2,446 shares.
