PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $65.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $67.44 and last traded at $66.20. Approximately 3,536,793 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 16,447,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.14.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on PayPal from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on PayPal from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on PayPal from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on PayPal from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on PayPal from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Twenty-five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in PayPal in the first quarter valued at about $5,485,000. Callan Capital LLC boosted its position in PayPal by 5.6% during the first quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 4,180 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in PayPal during the first quarter valued at approximately $289,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in PayPal by 25.7% during the first quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 15,418 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 3,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the first quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $63.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $7.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.52 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 21.58% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

About PayPal

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.