PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Up 1.6%

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) shot up 1.6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $64.40 and last traded at $64.22. 2,308,832 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 16,306,054 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on PYPL. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Argus cut shares of PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.47.

PayPal Stock Up 1.9 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $62.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $67.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,267,000. Bartlett & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 8.5% in the 4th 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 period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 847,006 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $53,344,000 after buying an additional 73,687 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 20,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after buying an additional 942 shares during the period. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. boosted 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 valued at $1,332,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.