PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 1.5% – Still a Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price shot up 1.5% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $79.32 and last traded at $79.29. 1,878,383 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 13,585,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho upped their price target on PayPal from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on PayPal from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on PayPal from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on PayPal from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.45.

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 firm has a market capitalization of $81.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $77.00 and a 200-day moving average of $68.05.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The business had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.56 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $819,315,000 after acquiring an additional 10,419,351 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in PayPal by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,636,644 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $501,184,000 after purchasing an additional 276,287 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 28.1% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,925 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of 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, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in PayPal by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,189,947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $248,912,000 after buying an additional 364,851 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is 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.