PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Arete Research set a $81.00 price target on PayPal in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of PayPal from $104.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.13.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $58.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $57.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.60. PayPal has a 12-month low of $55.85 and a 12-month high of $93.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The company had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that PayPal will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other PayPal news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $176,478.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,308.10. The trade was a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,086,508,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in PayPal by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,529,823,000 after purchasing an additional 9,313,783 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in PayPal by 284.0% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,804,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $666,100,000 after buying an additional 5,772,198 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 174.1% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 4,233,341 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $361,316,000 after buying an additional 2,689,162 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,134,000 after buying an additional 2,161,582 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.