PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $65.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $67.44 and last traded at $66.20. 3,536,793 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 16,447,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.14.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on PYPL. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of PayPal from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $66.00 target price (down previously from $118.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Twenty-five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,795.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its stake in PayPal by 77.5% during the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new stake in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. American National Bank acquired a new stake in PayPal during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sutton Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in PayPal by 115.0% during the third quarter. Sutton Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 443 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Down 1.9 %

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $63.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.14). PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 21.58%. The firm had revenue of $7.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.03 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.