PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Down 0.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) traded down 0.1% on Thursday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $76.00. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. PayPal traded as low as $71.26 and last traded at $71.97. 3,123,622 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 11,634,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.05.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.03.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in PayPal by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,736,394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,849,884,000 after purchasing an additional 271,836 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in PayPal by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,134,000 after buying an additional 2,161,582 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in PayPal by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,529,823,000 after buying an additional 9,313,783 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $1,086,508,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in PayPal by 12,919.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $819,315,000 after acquiring an additional 10,419,351 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PayPal Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.89. The stock has a market cap of $70.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The business had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS 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.