PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Given Hold Rating at Canaccord Genuity Group

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by stock analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $42.00 target price on the credit services provider’s stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s target price suggests a potential downside of 4.18% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wolfe Research reissued a “sell” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Argus cut their price objective on shares of PayPal from $87.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $41.00 to $43.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price objective (down from $60.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.85.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL stock opened at $43.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a PE ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $46.48 and its 200-day moving average is $52.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. PayPal has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $79.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 25.02%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that PayPal will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total value of $536,170.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,076,687.32. This trade represents a 20.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total transaction of $66,128.02. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,443.56. The trade was a 45.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 57,373 shares of company stock worth $2,684,341. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in PayPal by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,614,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,554,000 after acquiring an additional 10,356,256 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in PayPal by 227.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $624,364,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,488 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in PayPal by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in PayPal by 355.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,967,170 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $224,665,000 after acquiring an additional 3,875,688 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Company Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive payments online, on mobile devices and at the point of sale. The company provides a broad set of payment solutions, including a digital wallet, merchant payment processing, checkout services, invoicing and fraud-management tools. PayPal’s platform is designed to support e-commerce, in-person retail and person-to-person transfers, targeting both individual consumers and businesses of varying sizes.

Key products and services in PayPal’s portfolio include the PayPal wallet and checkout ecosystem, the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile app, Braintree’s developer-focused payment gateway, Xoom for international money transfers, and PayPal Credit and buy-now-pay-later options.