PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Down 0.3% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) were down 0.3% on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $104.00 to $88.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. PayPal traded as low as $64.85 and last traded at $65.67. Approximately 2,990,115 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 11,292,985 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.84.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on PYPL. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on PayPal from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on PayPal from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,734 shares in the company, valued at $2,145,308.10. The trade was a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter worth $1,086,508,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in PayPal by 108.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,529,823,000 after acquiring an additional 9,313,783 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in PayPal by 284.0% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,804,334 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $666,100,000 after acquiring an additional 5,772,198 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in PayPal by 174.1% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 4,233,341 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $361,316,000 after acquiring an additional 2,689,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in PayPal by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,615,134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,582 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $64.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $66.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.30.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.84 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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