PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 3.4% on Analyst Upgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price was up 3.4% during trading on Tuesday after Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on the stock from $80.00 to $88.00. Monness Crespi & Hardt currently has a buy rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $70.66 and last traded at $69.27. Approximately 23,027,576 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 41% from the average daily volume of 16,320,342 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.99.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of PayPal from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Mizuho cut their price target on PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on PayPal from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PayPal news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in PayPal by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 847,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $53,344,000 after purchasing an additional 73,687 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in PayPal by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares during the period. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. raised its position in PayPal by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 21,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PayPal Stock Up 1.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $71.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $63.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.27.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.14). PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.02 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.