Short Interest in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) Expands By 32.5%

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 32,930,000 shares, a growth of 32.5% from the January 31st total of 24,850,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 10,170,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PYPL shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BTIG Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.03.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other PayPal news, Director Gail J. Mcgovern sold 2,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total transaction of $176,478.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,145,308.10. This represents a 7.60 % 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. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter worth $1,086,508,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 12,919.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $819,315,000 after acquiring an additional 10,419,351 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in PayPal by 108.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,529,823,000 after acquiring an additional 9,313,783 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,307,945,000 after acquiring an additional 7,767,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in PayPal by 284.0% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,804,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $666,100,000 after acquiring an additional 5,772,198 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $69.50 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. PayPal has a 12 month low of $56.97 and a 12 month high of $93.66. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.09. The stock has a market cap of $68.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.52.

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

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.