Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Increases Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 33.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,094 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,604 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in PayPal were worth $3,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 113.8% in the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 7,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,976 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PayPal in the 3rd quarter worth about $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in PayPal during the 3rd quarter valued at about $810,000. FCG Investment Co purchased a new stake in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,079,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its stake in PayPal by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $155,927,000 after acquiring an additional 67,497 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PayPal Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $78.57 on Friday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.77 and a fifty-two week high of $93.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.44. 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 50-day simple moving average is $87.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.39.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PYPL. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on PayPal from $90.00 to $79.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.29.

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.