Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of PayPal Call Options (NASDAQ:PYPL)

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 157,997 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 52% compared to the typical volume of 103,667 call options.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL traded up $4.85 on Thursday, hitting $77.97. The stock had a trading volume of 13,686,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,011,376. PayPal has a 52-week low of $50.25 and a 52-week high of $78.25. The stock has a market cap of $81.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.17.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.20. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The business had revenue of $7.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that PayPal will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cim LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 2.2% during the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 98,432 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,712,000 after buying an additional 2,152 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,517,000. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in PayPal in the second quarter worth $1,454,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 28.1% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal during the second quarter valued at $286,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PYPL. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of PayPal from $70.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on PayPal from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of PayPal from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.58.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a technology platform that enables digital payments on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. It operates a two-sided network at scale that connects merchants and consumers that enables its customers to connect, transact, and send and receive payments through online and in person, as well as transfer and withdraw funds using various funding sources, such as bank accounts, PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products comprising its installment products, credit and debit cards, and cryptocurrencies, as well as other stored value products, including gift cards and eligible rewards.