PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

PYPL has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Stephens increased their target price on PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on PayPal from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.42.

PayPal Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $88.25 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $84.78 and a 200-day moving average of $73.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. PayPal has a 12 month low of $55.77 and a 12 month high of $93.66.

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

Institutional Trading of PayPal

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $819,315,000 after purchasing an additional 10,419,351 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in PayPal by 86.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,307,945,000 after acquiring an additional 7,767,072 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth about $387,435,000. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in PayPal by 180.7% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,946,460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $287,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,184,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised 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 worth $493,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,925 shares during the period. 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.