Evercore ISI Boosts PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Price Target to $65.00

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) had its price target upped by Evercore ISI from $60.00 to $65.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an in-line rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

PYPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on PayPal from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a market perform rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $72.73.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL opened at $65.70 on Wednesday. PayPal has a 1 year low of $50.25 and a 1 year high of $76.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a PE ratio of 16.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.28.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $7.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.52 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 21.58%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total value of $466,079.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC lifted its stake in PayPal by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 9,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after buying an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 847,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,344,000 after acquiring an additional 73,687 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of PayPal by 4.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 21,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.