PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Up 0.2% on Analyst Upgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price rose 0.2% on Friday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $68.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has a market perform rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $62.46 and last traded at $62.21. Approximately 4,046,280 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 16,452,525 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.10.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PYPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their price target on shares of PayPal from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total transaction of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 1st quarter valued at about $201,000. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of PayPal by 8,096.7% in the first quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 4,939 shares during the last quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL grew its position in shares of PayPal by 19.9% in the first quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 4,188 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,662 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of PayPal by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 156,976 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Trading Down 0.1 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.27 and a 200-day moving average of $59.90. The stock has a market cap of $65.28 billion, a PE ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 3.93 EPS for the current 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.