PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Upgraded at Truist Financial

Key Points

• Truist Financial upgraded PayPal from “sell” to “hold” and raised its price target to $57 from $44, implying only modest upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious overall: PayPal now has a consensus Hold rating, with 7 Buy, 35 Hold, and 4 Sell ratings and an average target price of $54.96.
• PayPal’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, posting $1.34 EPS on $8.35 billion in revenue, while shares were noted trading up 0.9% on Friday.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Truist Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $57.00 target price on the credit services provider's stock, up from their prior target price of $44.00. Truist Financial's target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.79% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PYPL. Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of PayPal from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays raised PayPal from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $42.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho restated a "neutral" rating and set a $50.00 price target (down from $60.00) on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on PayPal from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Friday, May 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $54.96.

PayPal Trading Up 0.9%

PYPL opened at $56.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $45.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.07. PayPal has a 1-year low of $38.46 and a 1-year high of $79.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. PayPal's revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that PayPal will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PayPal news, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total transaction of $536,170.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,076,687.32. This represents a 20.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $144,587.41. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,325,762.57. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 sold 20,612 shares of company stock valued at $966,623 in the last three months. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 20.1% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 4,809 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 805 shares in the last quarter. Hickory Point Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 137.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hickory Point Bank & Trust now owns 690 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 30,436 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,377,000 after acquiring an additional 4,499 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of PayPal by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,686 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Camelot Portfolios LLC raised its position in shares of PayPal by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC now owns 24,120 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,042,000 after acquiring an additional 3,080 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Stripe and Advent International approached PayPal with a $53 billion takeover bid have boosted speculation that PYPL could be undervalued and attract a premium if negotiations progress. PayPal (PYPL) Faces Takeover Approach From Stripe And Advent International
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary suggesting PayPal trades at a relatively low earnings multiple and continues to repurchase shares has reinforced the view that the stock may still be attractive even without a deal. PayPal Trades at an 11x P/E and Repurchases 8% of Shares Annually. Should You Buy Before July 28 Q2 Earnings?
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming Q2 earnings coverage is keeping attention on PayPal’s fundamentals, but this is more of a preview than a new company-specific catalyst. Seeking Clues to Paypal (PYPL) Q2 Earnings? A Peek Into Wall Street Projections for Key Metrics
• Negative Sentiment: Market reports noted that PayPal had not engaged with the takeover offer, which leaves uncertainty around whether a transaction will happen and may temper immediate upside expectations. PayPal (PYPL) Faces Takeover Approach From Stripe And Advent International

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive payments online, on mobile devices and at the point of sale. The company provides a broad set of payment solutions, including a digital wallet, merchant payment processing, checkout services, invoicing and fraud-management tools. PayPal's platform is designed to support e-commerce, in-person retail and person-to-person transfers, targeting both individual consumers and businesses of varying sizes.

Key products and services in PayPal's portfolio include the PayPal wallet and checkout ecosystem, the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile app, Braintree's developer-focused payment gateway, Xoom for international money transfers, and PayPal Credit and buy-now-pay-later options.

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