Cetera Investment Advisers Reduces Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Cetera Investment Advisers lowered its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 196,875 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 8,420 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in PayPal were worth $11,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its position in PayPal by 77.5% during the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. American National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 65.8% during the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 466 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on PayPal from $74.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on PayPal from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Daiwa America raised PayPal from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.41.

PayPal Stock Up 2.7 %

PYPL stock opened at $79.36 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $70.69 and a 200-day moving average of $65.60. The company has a market capitalization of $81.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.25 and a fifty-two week high of $80.63.

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