Traders Buy Large Volume of PayPal Call Options (NASDAQ:PYPL)

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 167,327 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 133% compared to the average daily volume of 71,839 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PYPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on PayPal from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $88.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America upgraded PayPal from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.29.

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL traded down $1.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $77.31. The stock had a trading volume of 13,578,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,926,884. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.50. PayPal has a one year low of $55.77 and a one year high of $93.66. The firm has a market cap of $76.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. PayPal's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.48 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its position in shares of PayPal by 113.8% in the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 7,470 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,976 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $387,435,000. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in PayPal in the third quarter valued at approximately $810,000. FCG Investment Co acquired a new position in PayPal during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,079,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,998,298 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $155,927,000 after purchasing an additional 67,497 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.