PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) traded up 0.2% during 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. 4,046,280 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 16,452,525 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.10.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on PYPL. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on PayPal from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. DZ Bank cut shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.47.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal 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 transaction of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 12.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,246,996 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $144,215,000 after buying an additional 138,875 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its holdings in PayPal by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,894 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in shares of PayPal by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,860 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 136.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the period. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of PayPal by 5.3% in the first quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 3,095 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Down 0.1 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.27 and a 200-day moving average of $59.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $65.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.45.

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

PayPal Company Profile

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.