Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Holdings in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 135,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 6,700 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in PayPal were worth $10,581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position 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 worth $501,184,000 after buying an additional 276,287 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 28.1% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,925 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of PayPal by 180.7% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,946,460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $287,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,184,160 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in PayPal by 14.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,166,795 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $183,789,000 after purchasing an additional 409,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in PayPal by 5.1% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 3,046,502 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $176,789,000 after purchasing an additional 146,643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on PayPal from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.03.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $81.70 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.05. The stock has a market cap of $85.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.44. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.25 and a twelve month high of $82.80.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.20. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The firm had revenue of $7.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.44 EPS 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.