PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $75.25.

PYPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 4,422 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.65, for a total transaction of $272,616.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $861,620.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 50.8% in the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,171 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 3,763 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,231,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,645,000. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in PayPal by 180.7% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,946,460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $287,043,000 after acquiring an additional 3,184,160 shares during the period. Finally, Excalibur Management Corp raised its stake in PayPal by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 8,951 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $519,000 after acquiring an additional 993 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PayPal Stock Up 0.7 %

PayPal stock opened at $64.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $66.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.42. PayPal has a 52-week low of $50.25 and a 52-week high of $70.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.23.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $7.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.82 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. Equities analysts predict that PayPal will post 4.42 EPS 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.