PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Down 1.7%

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price was down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $71.01 and last traded at $71.35. Approximately 4,366,685 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 14,177,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.61.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on PYPL. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on PayPal from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on PayPal from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on PayPal from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of PayPal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $71.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.56.

PayPal Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $70.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $64.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PYPL. Cim LLC boosted its stake in PayPal by 2.2% during the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 98,432 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal during the second quarter valued at about $9,517,000. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new stake in PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,454,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in PayPal by 28.1% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $493,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,925 shares during the period. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at $286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

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.