PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Up 1.9% Following Analyst Upgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price traded up 1.9% during mid-day trading on Friday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $72.00 to $73.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $78.95 and last traded at $78.78. 2,436,934 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 13,930,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.31.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of PayPal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $71.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $74.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Macquarie upped their target price on PayPal from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, William Blair upgraded PayPal to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.41.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new position in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth $1,454,000. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of PayPal during the second quarter valued at about $3,014,000. Distillate Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of PayPal by 156,934.7% in the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 343,906 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $19,957,000 after purchasing an additional 343,687 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in PayPal by 604.7% in the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 53,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,452,000 after purchasing an additional 45,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in PayPal by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,235 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PayPal Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.60. The firm has a market cap of $83.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.20. PayPal had a return on equity of 22.82% and a net margin of 14.30%. The firm had revenue of $7.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS 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.