PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Down 2% – What’s Next?

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) fell 2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $75.85 and last traded at $76.10. 3,800,467 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 11,134,418 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PYPL. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of PayPal from $90.00 to $79.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.52.

PayPal Stock Down 3.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.44 billion, a PE ratio of 18.76, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.53.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly 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. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The company had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 123.2% during the fourth quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 11,851 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 6,542 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in PayPal by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 14,512 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 8,813 shares in the last quarter. Amiral Gestion bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $17,047,000. Auxier Asset Management bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $16,276,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PayPal Company Profile

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.