PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 1.9% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) traded up 1.9% on Friday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $72.00 to $73.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $78.95 and last traded at $78.78. 2,436,934 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 13,930,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.31.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on PYPL. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their target price on PayPal from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group lifted their target price on PayPal from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.41.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 5,423 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in PayPal by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,663 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 3,951 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in PayPal by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 70,128 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,307,000 after purchasing an additional 6,965 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC acquired a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at $261,000. Finally, Thematics Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of PayPal by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Thematics Asset Management now owns 152,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,334,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Up 2.7 %

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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $70.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.60. The firm has a market cap of $83.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44.

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

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.