PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $78.03.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PYPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Argus upgraded shares of PayPal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of PayPal from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter worth $294,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 26.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,620 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the first quarter valued at about $71,000. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 17.8% in the first quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 4,272 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the first quarter valued at about $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company's stock.

PayPal Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of PayPal stock traded up $1.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.94. The stock had a trading volume of 8,839,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,674,411. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.61. PayPal has a 12-month low of $50.25 and a 12-month high of $82.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $82.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued 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. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The firm had revenue of $7.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal will post 4.42 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.