PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Up 3.1% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• PayPal shares rose 3.1% to $58.78 in mid-day trading, with approximately 14.5 million shares changing hands.
• Analyst price targets were mixed, ranging from $56 to $67, while the consensus rating remained “Hold” with an average target of $55.94.
• PayPal reported quarterly EPS of $1.45, beating estimates by $0.14, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, representing a 1.0% annualized yield.

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) were up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $59.03 and last traded at $58.78. 14,488,588 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 17,163,096 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on PayPal from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on PayPal from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on PayPal from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on PayPal from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.94.

PayPal Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $55.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.83 billion, a PE ratio of 11.22, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.27.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.14. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 13.78%. The firm had revenue of $8.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. PayPal's payout ratio is 10.69%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other news, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.43, for a total value of $255,643.16. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,304,058.81. This represents a 9.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 552 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.80, for a total value of $30,249.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,520. The trade was a 18.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 13,437 shares of company stock valued at $768,417 over the last three months. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the second quarter worth $3,236,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in PayPal in the second quarter valued at $975,563,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in PayPal in the second quarter valued at $422,092,000. Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in PayPal during the second quarter worth about $20,758,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in PayPal by 227.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $624,364,000 after buying an additional 9,590,488 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and businesses to send, receive, and manage money online and through mobile devices. Its services support online checkout, peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, payment processing, invoicing, and other commerce-related transactions.

The company's portfolio includes the PayPal and Venmo brands, Braintree's payment processing technology, and Xoom's international money transfer service. PayPal also offers merchant tools, digital wallets, payment solutions, and consumer financing products through its platform and related services.

PayPal traces its origins to 1998 and became an independent publicly traded company after separating from eBay in 2015.

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