Tortoise Investment Management LLC Grows Position in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 930.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 515 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 465 shares during the quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in PayPal were worth $30,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in PayPal by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,716 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 11,870 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 1,472 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 12,541 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $770,000 after buying an additional 1,365 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,988 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,473,000 after buying an additional 5,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 17,673 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after buying an additional 3,464 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PYPL has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa America raised PayPal from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on PayPal from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.56.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $72.61 on Thursday. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.25 and a 12 month high of $73.93. The firm has a market cap of $74.23 billion, a PE ratio of 18.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.39.

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