PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Downgraded by Arete Research to Hold

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Arete Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on PYPL. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on PayPal from $85.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays raised their target price on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.03.

PayPal Trading Down 5.4 %

Shares of PYPL opened at $65.15 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $64.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52. PayPal has a 1 year low of $56.97 and a 1 year high of $93.66. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.73.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,145,308.10. This trade represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in PayPal by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,736,394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,849,884,000 after buying an additional 271,836 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of PayPal by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,615,134,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,582 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,529,823,000 after purchasing an additional 9,313,783 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,086,508,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,462,251 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $892,953,000 after buying an additional 1,669,908 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.