PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Up 1.2% – Time to Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) traded up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $87.97 and last traded at $87.90. 1,438,577 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 12,956,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.90.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on PYPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.42.

PayPal Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.65. The company has a market cap of $88.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 14.08%. PayPal’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in PayPal by 27.1% during the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,086 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $933,000 after purchasing an additional 3,432 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in PayPal by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 36,596 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in PayPal by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 503,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,189,000 after acquiring an additional 51,843 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV acquired a new position in PayPal during the second quarter worth about $940,000. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in PayPal by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 89,290 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,181,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

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.