PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Given New $68.00 Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) had its target price increased by Sanford C. Bernstein from $66.00 to $68.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the credit services provider’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s target price indicates a potential upside of 8.73% from the company’s current price.

PYPL has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on PayPal from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on PayPal from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JMP Securities raised their price target on PayPal from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price target on PayPal from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.47.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ PYPL traded down $0.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $62.54. 4,803,433 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,555,566. The company has a market capitalization of $65.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. PayPal has a 12-month low of $50.25 and a 12-month high of $76.54.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $8.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that PayPal will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, SVP Frank Keller sold 7,686 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.64, for a total transaction of $466,079.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,795.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 26,063 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,856,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 15,056 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 3,196 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 3,095 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 1,032 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

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.