PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Up 0.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price rose 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $68.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has a market perform rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $62.46 and last traded at $62.21. Approximately 4,046,280 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 16,452,525 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.10.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 847,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,344,000 after purchasing an additional 73,687 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 4.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 21,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PayPal Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The business’s 50-day moving average is $62.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.93. The company has a market capitalization of $65.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 20.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 3.93 earnings per share 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.