Evercore ISI Initiates Coverage on PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Stock analysts at Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm set an “in-line” rating and a $65.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.22% from the company’s current price.

PYPL has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on PayPal from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. DZ Bank upgraded PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $85.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PayPal currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.32.

PayPal Stock Performance

NASDAQ PYPL opened at $57.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. PayPal has a 1-year low of $55.85 and a 1-year high of $93.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.60. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.20.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. PayPal had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. PayPal’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In related news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in PayPal by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,736,394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,849,884,000 after purchasing an additional 271,836 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,923,662 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,582 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,529,823,000 after acquiring an additional 9,313,783 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,086,508,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,462,251 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $892,953,000 after buying an additional 1,669,908 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.