PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Up 0.5% - Time to Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) shot up 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $73.34 and last traded at $72.67. 2,277,343 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 11,225,343 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PYPL. StockNews.com upgraded PayPal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of PayPal from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $104.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of PayPal from $110.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on PayPal from $103.00 to $93.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.68.

PayPal Stock Up 0.4%

The company has a market cap of $69.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.45.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.17. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The business had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The business's revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the company'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 transaction, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,221,849 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $5,625,976,000 after buying an additional 276,339 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in PayPal by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,736,394 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,849,884,000 after acquiring an additional 271,836 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in PayPal by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,615,134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,582 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in PayPal by 108.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,529,823,000 after acquiring an additional 9,313,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,086,508,000. 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.