King Luther Capital Management Corp Trims Stock Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 23.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 624,379 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 193,119 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned approximately 0.06% of PayPal worth $36,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in PayPal by 180.7% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,946,460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $287,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,184,160 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of PayPal by 125.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,724,188 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $105,882,000 after buying an additional 958,130 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of PayPal by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,644,317 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $445,103,000 after buying an additional 904,804 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of PayPal by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 2,899,859 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $194,262,000 after buying an additional 687,940 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 1st quarter worth about $42,297,000. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PayPal Trading Up 6.1 %

PayPal stock opened at $77.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.68 and a 200 day moving average of $64.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.43. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.25 and a 12-month high of $78.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $7.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.82 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PYPL. Barclays upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.58.

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.