Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 2,500 Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $1,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,307,945,000 after purchasing an additional 7,767,072 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in PayPal by 12,919.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $819,315,000 after buying an additional 10,419,351 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in PayPal by 3.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,636,644 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $501,184,000 after buying an additional 276,287 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in PayPal by 28.1% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,925 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,015,816 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $469,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069,356 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PYPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on PayPal from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.32.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $91.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $87.40 and its 200 day moving average is $76.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.77 and a fifty-two week high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal 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.