PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $77.00 to $80.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. PayPal traded as high as $71.24 and last traded at $71.21, with a volume of 3713182 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.43.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on PYPL. Daiwa Capital Markets raised PayPal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Macquarie boosted their price target on PayPal from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.56.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related news, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 4,422 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.65, for a total value of $272,616.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $861,620.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its stake in PayPal by 77.5% during the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank acquired a new stake in PayPal during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in PayPal during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 50.6% during the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Price Performance

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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.55. The stock has a market cap of $74.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.42.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $7.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.82 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 22.82% and a net margin of 14.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal 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.