PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Given New $76.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

PYPL has been the topic of several other reports. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of PayPal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.29.

PayPal Price Performance

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $77.25 on Wednesday. PayPal has a one year low of $52.55 and a one year high of $83.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $77.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.12. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The business had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that PayPal will post 4.54 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,636,644 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $501,184,000 after purchasing an additional 276,287 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 28.1% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,511,242 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $493,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,925 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 180.7% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,946,460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $287,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,184,160 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,166,795 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $183,789,000 after purchasing an additional 409,322 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 3,046,502 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $176,789,000 after purchasing an additional 146,643 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.