PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

PYPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of PayPal from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $74.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.74.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $91.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $91.25 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $83.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.30. PayPal has a twelve month low of $55.77 and a twelve month high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that PayPal will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10,419,351 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal by 86.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,767,072 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PayPal in the third quarter valued at about $387,435,000. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in PayPal by 180.7% during the second 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 increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 28.1% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after buying an additional 1,866,925 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

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.