PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on PYPL. Daiwa America upgraded shares of PayPal from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Argus upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com cut PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.03.

PayPal Trading Down 2.6 %

PYPL opened at $78.22 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $76.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. PayPal has a 12 month low of $50.80 and a 12 month high of $83.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.12. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The business had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that PayPal will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 234,147 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $15,686,000 after purchasing an additional 36,994 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 197.3% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 82,620 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,535,000 after buying an additional 54,832 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in PayPal by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 23,463 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,572,000 after buying an additional 4,434 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of PayPal by 33.8% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 77,308 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,179,000 after buying an additional 19,510 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 14.2% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 168,866 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,312,000 after acquiring an additional 21,047 shares during the last quarter. 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.