PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 3.1% – Time to Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price was up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $86.95 and last traded at $86.62. Approximately 2,537,429 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 6,823,171 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PYPL. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on PayPal from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on PayPal from $92.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.65.

PayPal Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $87.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $86.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.10.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in PayPal by 86.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,307,945,000 after purchasing an additional 7,767,072 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in PayPal by 12,919.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $819,315,000 after acquiring an additional 10,419,351 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in PayPal by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,636,644 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $501,184,000 after acquiring an additional 276,287 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in PayPal by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $493,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in PayPal by 21.6% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,015,816 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $469,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069,356 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.