PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading 1.9% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) traded up 1.9% on Monday after Macquarie raised their price target on the stock from $115.00 to $117.00. Macquarie currently has an outperform rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $78.92 and last traded at $78.80. 3,276,677 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 11,112,986 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.31.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on PYPL. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stephens lifted their target price on PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.52.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in PayPal by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,724 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA purchased a new position in PayPal in the third quarter worth approximately $253,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA grew its holdings in PayPal by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 8,815 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 2.6% in the third quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 48,290 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,768,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth about $8,483,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $77.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $87.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.79.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.48 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS 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.