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

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price was up 3.4% during mid-day 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 were traded during trading, an increase of 41% from the average daily volume of 16,320,342 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.99.

A number of other analysts have also commented on PYPL. Citigroup cut their price target on PayPal from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. 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 report on Thursday, February 8th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.72.

Insider Activity

In other PayPal news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter worth about $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 9.5% during 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 during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 4.9% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. increased its holdings in PayPal by 2.0% in the fourth 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 during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PayPal Stock Up 1.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $71.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $63.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

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