PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Up 0.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $92.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $78.60 and last traded at $77.93. Approximately 1,585,608 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 14,038,159 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.88.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on PYPL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on PayPal from $74.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on PayPal from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on PayPal from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its position in PayPal by 77.5% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. American National Bank acquired a new stake in PayPal in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in PayPal in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in PayPal by 50.6% in the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $81.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.48 and its 200 day moving average is $65.31.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $7.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Company 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.