Analysts Set PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) PT at $55.50

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the forty-seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirty-four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.7222.

Several research firms have weighed in on PYPL. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of PayPal from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday.

PayPal News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade and higher price target: PayPal received an analyst upgrade, while Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $60, supporting the view that the shares offer upside after their long-term decline. PayPal Trading Up After Analyst Upgrade Cantor Fitzgerald Raises PayPal Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Undervaluation and turnaround potential: Commentary highlights PayPal’s depressed valuation following an approximately 79% five-year share-price decline. Progress in checkout, Venmo monetization, Braintree profitability and cost efficiency could improve the investment case. PayPal Stock Looks Undervalued
• Positive Sentiment: Acquisition interest: Reports that Stripe made an offer for PayPal, apparently viewed by management as too low, reinforce the argument that the company may be undervalued. However, no transaction has been confirmed. PayPal to Stripe: The Offer Is Too Low
• Positive Sentiment: Stablecoin opportunity: PayPal’s stablecoin initiative places it in a rapidly expanding digital-payments segment, potentially creating an additional transaction and financial-services revenue stream. Stablecoin Market Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: New business-unit targets: PayPal plans to publish revenue targets for its three core units for the first time. The move may improve transparency and accountability, but it also gives investors more specific benchmarks against which to measure execution. PayPal Sets Revenue Targets
• Negative Sentiment: Growth and margin concerns: Industry commentary points to rising technology costs and pressure on consumer spending. PayPal’s valuation looks attractive partly because investors remain concerned about weaker growth and competitive pressure. Zacks Industry Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: PayPal’s chief accounting officer sold 38% of his directly held shares, a transaction that may weigh on sentiment even though it does not necessarily indicate a change in the company’s outlook. PayPal Chief Accounting Officer Share Sale

PayPal Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $57.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.56 billion, a PE ratio of 10.95, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.30. PayPal has a 52-week low of $38.46 and a 52-week high of $79.21.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%.The firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that PayPal will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,749.60. The trade was a 37.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,325,762.57. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 10,612 shares of company stock worth $484,534 in the last quarter. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in PayPal by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 67.9% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 10,356,256 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of PayPal by 227.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $624,364,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in PayPal by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,215,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $713,158,000 after buying an additional 1,083,843 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive payments online, on mobile devices and at the point of sale. The company provides a broad set of payment solutions, including a digital wallet, merchant payment processing, checkout services, invoicing and fraud-management tools. PayPal’s platform is designed to support e-commerce, in-person retail and person-to-person transfers, targeting both individual consumers and businesses of varying sizes.

Key products and services in PayPal’s portfolio include the PayPal wallet and checkout ecosystem, the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile app, Braintree’s developer-focused payment gateway, Xoom for international money transfers, and PayPal Credit and buy-now-pay-later options.