PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on PYPL. DZ Bank raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI started coverage on PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Macquarie raised their price target on PayPal from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.03.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $62.00 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.53. PayPal has a 52-week low of $55.85 and a 52-week high of $93.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $61.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.60.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.48 EPS. Research analysts predict that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its stake in PayPal by 113.8% during the 4th quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 7,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,976 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 697,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $59,489,000 after acquiring an additional 18,172 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 223.1% in the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 265,048 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $22,622,000 after acquiring an additional 183,011 shares in the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. lifted its holdings in PayPal by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 27,249 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 11,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 33,302 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,842,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.