PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 3.3% – Time to Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price shot up 3.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $93.25 and last traded at $91.81. 16,468,435 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 151% from the average session volume of 6,562,702 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PYPL. Barclays raised their price target on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America raised PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their target price on PayPal from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.32.

PayPal Stock Down 2.2 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $87.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $90.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 12,919.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $819,315,000 after buying an additional 10,419,351 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 86.3% during the third 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 period. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PayPal during the third quarter valued at approximately $387,435,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 28.1% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $493,907,000 after buying an additional 1,866,925 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 9,864.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,119,262 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $87,336,000 after buying an additional 1,108,030 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.