PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Down 3.2%

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price fell 3.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $69.58 and last traded at $69.72. 3,009,262 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 14,153,520 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on PYPL. Daiwa Capital Markets raised PayPal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. TD Cowen increased their target price on PayPal from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on PayPal from $70.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. Daiwa America upgraded PayPal from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, New Street Research began coverage on PayPal in a report on Friday, May 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.56.

PayPal Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.43.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.20. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The company had revenue of $7.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $749,561,000. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in PayPal by 180.7% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,946,460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $287,043,000 after acquiring an additional 3,184,160 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 28.1% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $493,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,925 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in PayPal by 125.1% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,724,188 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $105,882,000 after acquiring an additional 958,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its stake in PayPal by 4,024.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 783,248 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $48,099,000 after acquiring an additional 764,258 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.