PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Down 0.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price was down 0.1% during trading on Thursday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $76.00. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. PayPal traded as low as $71.26 and last traded at $71.97. Approximately 3,123,622 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 11,634,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.05.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on PayPal from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna raised their price target on PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.03.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 113.8% in the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 7,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $638,000 after buying an additional 3,976 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in PayPal in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $810,000. Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in PayPal by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $155,927,000 after purchasing an additional 67,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weil Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 68.9% in the third quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 41,689 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 17,003 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $83.93 and a 200 day moving average of $80.89. The stock has a market cap of $70.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.66, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued 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 net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.48 EPS. PayPal’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

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.