PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 1% - Here's Why

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $77.23 and last traded at $76.80. Approximately 3,934,574 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 10,853,669 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PYPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of PayPal from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of PayPal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $83.13.

PayPal Price Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $73.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.93. The company has a market capitalization of $75.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.17. PayPal had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 24.59%. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PayPal news, Director Deborah M. Messemer sold 3,795 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.00, for a total transaction of $277,035.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,020,248. The trade was a 21.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.24, for a total transaction of $304,824.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 48,483 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,550,894.92. This represents a 7.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,796 shares of company stock valued at $863,028. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,989 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 924 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $248,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $216,000. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $247,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 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.