PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Reaches New 52-Week High at $79.25

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $79.25 and last traded at $78.71, with a volume of 1142391 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $78.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. New Street Research started coverage on PayPal in a report on Friday, May 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their target price on PayPal from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Daiwa America raised shares of PayPal from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.16.

PayPal Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $80.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.73.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $7.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.82 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 9,659 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at $294,000. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA acquired a new position in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at $244,000. United Services Automobile Association increased its position in shares of PayPal by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 32,640 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 649,999 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $39,916,000 after purchasing an additional 172,786 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

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.