PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating on PayPal, with 34 holds, nine buys and four sells among 47 covering firms. The average 12-month price target is $56.03.
• PayPal’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, reporting $1.38 in adjusted EPS versus a $1.28 estimate and $8.68 billion in revenue versus an $8.47 billion forecast; revenue increased 4.8% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, equivalent to an annualized $0.56 payout and a 1.1% yield. Institutional investors own 68.32% of PayPal, while insiders sold shares during the recent quarter.

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the forty-seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirty-four have issued a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.0278.

PYPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Argus set a $70.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on PayPal from $62.00 to $53.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, BTIG Research restated a "neutral" rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th.

PayPal Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $52.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $45.29 billion, a PE ratio of 10.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. PayPal has a 12-month low of $38.46 and a 12-month high of $79.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.60 and a 200 day moving average of $49.25.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.47 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PayPal will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. PayPal's payout ratio is presently 10.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,749.60. The trade was a 37.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.43, for a total transaction of $255,643.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,304,058.81. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 14,774 shares of company stock valued at $848,095 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,236,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in PayPal in the second quarter valued at about $975,563,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at about $949,758,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in shares of PayPal during the second quarter worth $422,092,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the second quarter worth about $20,758,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc is a digital payments and financial technology company that operates a global platform for consumers and businesses. Its services enable customers to send and receive money, make purchases online and in stores, and accept payments through digital checkout solutions. PayPal supports transactions using linked bank accounts, debit and credit cards, stored balances and other payment methods.

The company's consumer and merchant offerings include the PayPal wallet, PayPal Checkout, PayPal Zettle point-of-sale tools, PayPal Braintree payment processing and PayPal Complete Payments.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.