Meritage Portfolio Management Has $16.21 Million Stock Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 41.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 189,957 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 55,694 shares during the period. PayPal accounts for approximately 1.0% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in PayPal were worth $16,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 113.8% in the 4th quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 7,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,976 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in PayPal in the third quarter valued at approximately $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth $810,000. FCG Investment Co bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,079,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $155,927,000 after purchasing an additional 67,497 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PYPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of PayPal from $90.00 to $79.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.13.

PayPal Stock Down 13.2 %

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $77.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.77 and a twelve month high of $93.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $88.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.39.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.48 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.