PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 3.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) rose 3.2% during trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $80.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $91.80 and last traded at $91.74. Approximately 5,090,735 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 7,412,152 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.92.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America upgraded PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.32.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in PayPal by 14.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,166,795 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $183,789,000 after purchasing an additional 409,322 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in PayPal in the second quarter worth $1,645,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in PayPal by 50.8% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,171 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 3,763 shares during the period. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 50.6% in the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Argent Trust Co raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.5% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 24,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PayPal Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $92.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.89, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. The business’s 50 day moving average is $87.08 and its 200 day moving average is $76.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. The business had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share 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.