PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the forty-six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirty-two have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.37.

PYPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered shares of PayPal to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Argus set a $70.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group dropped their price target on PayPal from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Investors following PYPL have been watching these headlines:

• Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target to $60 from $55, though it maintained a “market perform” rating, suggesting only limited upside at the then-current share price.
• Neutral Sentiment: A Yahoo Finance article highlighted a case that PayPal could be substantially undervalued, but also reported that Barclays had cut its rating—an indication of continuing analyst disagreement about the stock’s prospects. Article: PayPal Stock May Be 50% Undervalued As Barclays Cuts Rating
• Negative Sentiment: Germany’s antitrust authority said PayPal’s restrictions on merchants’ ability to add surcharges for payment methods may limit competition. Regulatory action could create legal or compliance costs and constrain PayPal’s merchant policies. Article: PayPal in German Regulator’s Crosshairs Over Merchant Restrictions on Payment Fees

PayPal Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of PayPal stock opened at $59.48 on Friday. PayPal has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $67.99. The firm has a market cap of $49.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $8.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 13.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.69%.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In related news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.72, for a total transaction of $188,277.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,726,372.76. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 552 shares of the business’s 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 owned 2,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,520. The trade was a 18.70% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,437 shares of company stock worth $768,417. 0.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of PayPal during the second quarter worth about $97,372,000. S&CO Inc. purchased a new stake in PayPal in the second quarter valued at approximately $18,827,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in PayPal by 4.9% during the first 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 stake in PayPal by 2.0% in 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 worth $284,694,000 after buying an additional 128,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in PayPal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $975,563,000. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Company Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc. operates a global digital payments platform that helps consumers and businesses send and receive payments online and in person. Its services include PayPal checkout and digital wallets, Venmo peer-to-peer payments, Braintree payment processing for merchants, and Xoom international money transfers. The company traces its roots to Confinity, founded in 1998, and the online payments business that developed through its merger with X.com. PayPal became part of eBay in 2002 and was spun off as an independent public company in 2015.