PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading 0.6% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price traded up 0.6% on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $80.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $90.37 and last traded at $90.16. 1,413,177 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 7,271,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.64.

PYPL has been the topic of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie upped their target price on PayPal from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wolfe Research raised PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on PayPal from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.32.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $810,000. FCG Investment Co purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,079,000. Equity Investment Corp grew its position in shares of PayPal by 3.5% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $155,927,000 after purchasing an additional 67,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weil Company Inc. grew its position in shares of PayPal by 68.9% in the third quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 41,689 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 17,003 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Down 0.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $89.15 billion, a PE ratio of 21.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. The firm had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.