PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 1.6%

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price was up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $65.56 and last traded at $65.14. Approximately 3,026,410 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 16,079,665 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on PYPL shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of PayPal from $76.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, DZ Bank cut shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, February 9th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.47.

PayPal Trading Up 2.9 %

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $62.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.10. The company has a market capitalization of $69.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.45. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 20.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in PayPal by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,069,337 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,173,254,000 after buying an additional 873,181 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at $749,561,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in PayPal by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,767,054 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $687,902,000 after buying an additional 78,105 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in PayPal by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,976,859 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $428,449,000 after buying an additional 265,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,916,982 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $404,367,000 after buying an additional 1,575,930 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.