PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading 1.3% Higher After Earnings Beat

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price shot up 1.3% on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $79.50 and last traded at $78.76. 8,896,775 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 10,541,553 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.73.

The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.48 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on PayPal from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 113.8% during 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 purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the 3rd quarter worth $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in PayPal in the third quarter valued at $810,000. FCG Investment Co purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,079,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its position in shares of PayPal by 3.5% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $155,927,000 after buying an additional 67,497 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Trading Up 1.7 %

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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.39. The company has a market cap of $79.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.44.

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.