PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Up 0.4% – Time to Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price traded up 0.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $89.42 and last traded at $88.56. 1,212,919 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 7,998,605 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.48.

PayPal Trading Up 0.8 %

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.16 billion, a PE ratio of 21.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. PayPal’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 86.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,307,945,000 after buying an additional 7,767,072 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 12,919.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $819,315,000 after acquiring an additional 10,419,351 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $493,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,925 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in shares of PayPal by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,015,816 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $469,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $387,435,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.