PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the forty-seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirty-three have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.28.

A number of research firms have weighed in on PYPL. Weiss Ratings upgraded PayPal from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on PayPal from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on PayPal from $62.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on PayPal from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

PayPal Stock Down 0.3%

PYPL opened at $56.51 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $48.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. PayPal has a 12 month low of $38.46 and a 12 month high of $79.21.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.47 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 14.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that PayPal will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.59%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total value of $253,715.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,888,723.68. This represents a 11.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,749.60. This trade represents a 37.63% 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 have sold 14,774 shares of company stock valued at $848,095 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in PayPal during the second quarter worth about $97,372,000. S&CO Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $18,827,000. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,608,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $117,987,000 after purchasing an additional 121,400 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,593,196 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $284,694,000 after purchasing an additional 128,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PayPal by 76.0% during the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 54,458 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,430,000 after purchasing an additional 23,516 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.