Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $78.00 price objective on the credit services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 7.10% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on PYPL. Daiwa America raised shares of PayPal from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Eighteen research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.56.

PayPal Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of PYPL traded up $1.06 on Wednesday, hitting $72.83. 6,703,521 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,975,435. The company has a market capitalization of $76.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.43. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.10. PayPal has a one year low of $50.25 and a one year high of $74.40.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $7.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PayPal will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in PayPal by 50.6% in the 2nd quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its position in PayPal by 77.5% in the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in PayPal by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,708 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $650,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO boosted its position in PayPal by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 1,175 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,166 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.