PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $88.42.

PYPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on PayPal from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $85.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.37. The stock has a market cap of $85.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44. PayPal has a 1-year low of $55.77 and a 1-year high of $93.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The firm had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PayPal will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 12,919.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $819,315,000 after purchasing an additional 10,419,351 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in PayPal by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,307,945,000 after buying an additional 7,767,072 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $387,435,000. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in PayPal by 180.7% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,946,460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $287,043,000 after buying an additional 3,184,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,925 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

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.