PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Up 3.4% – Should You Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price rose 3.4% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $60.87 and last traded at $60.20. Approximately 14,049,899 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 17,081,691 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PYPL shares. Bank of America raised their target price on PayPal from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Argus set a $70.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.94.

PayPal Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $55.10 and its 200-day moving average is $50.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.31, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.14. PayPal had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The company had revenue of $8.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. PayPal’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is 10.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total transaction of $253,715.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,723.68. This trade represents a 11.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.43, for a total transaction of $255,643.16. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,304,058.81. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 13,437 shares of company stock worth $768,417 in the last quarter. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in PayPal in the second quarter worth $3,236,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in PayPal by 67.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,614,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,554,000 after buying an additional 10,356,256 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in PayPal by 227.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $624,364,000 after buying an additional 9,590,488 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the second quarter worth about $422,092,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 4.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,179,771 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $415,192,000 after buying an additional 376,530 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Company Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and businesses to send, receive, and manage money online and through mobile devices. Its services support online checkout, peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, payment processing, invoicing, and other commerce-related transactions.

The company’s portfolio includes the PayPal and Venmo brands, Braintree’s payment processing technology, and Xoom’s international money transfer service. PayPal also offers merchant tools, digital wallets, payment solutions, and consumer financing products through its platform and related services.

PayPal traces its origins to 1998 and became an independent publicly traded company after separating from eBay in 2015.