PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the forty-five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirty-one have issued a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $59.0263.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PYPL. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Daiwa Securities Group cut their price target on PayPal from $61.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price objective on PayPal from $50.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Chris Natali sold 2,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.73, for a total transaction of $98,763.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,992.20. This represents a 65.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total value of $1,361,317.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 51,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,373,113.34. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 87,608 shares of company stock valued at $3,831,535. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. MUFG Securities EMEA plc lifted its position in PayPal by 100.4% in the second quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 385 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 87,524 shares during the period. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 15,233.3% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Stock Performance

PYPL traded down $1.65 during trading on Monday, hitting $45.32. The stock had a trading volume of 2,825,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,886,975. The firm has a market cap of $41.72 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. PayPal has a 12 month low of $38.46 and a 12 month high of $79.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.53.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The credit services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $8.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.82 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 25.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Analysts expect that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. PayPal’s payout ratio is presently 10.35%.

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.