Truist Financial Upgrades PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) to Hold

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) was upgraded by investment analysts at Truist Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $57.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $44.00. Truist Financial’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 1.51% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on PYPL. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Clear Str upgraded PayPal to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of PayPal from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.96.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL stock opened at $56.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $49.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. PayPal has a 52-week low of $38.46 and a 52-week high of $79.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50 day moving average is $45.70 and its 200 day moving average is $47.14.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.02% and a net margin of 15.00%.PayPal’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PayPal will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Frank Keller sold 10,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,076,687.32. This trade represents a 20.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.46, for a total value of $66,128.02. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,586 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold 20,612 shares of company stock valued at $966,623 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Robinswood Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of PayPal in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in PayPal by 15,233.3% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 460 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in PayPal in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Truist Securities upgraded PayPal from Sell to Hold and raised its price target to $57 from $44, signaling improved confidence in the stock and helping sentiment around PYPL. Article: Benzinga report on Truist upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Stripe and Advent International have approached PayPal with a $53 billion takeover bid have fueled speculation that PYPL could be worth more in a deal, boosting investor interest. Article: Yahoo Finance takeover report
• Neutral Sentiment: Options traders are pricing in about an 8.8% swing around next week’s earnings, indicating elevated expectations and potential volatility rather than a clear directional view. Article: TipRanks earnings volatility report
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts say investors are focused on TPV growth, platform expansion, margins, and competition heading into earnings, with macro uncertainty still clouding the outlook. Article: Zacks preview
• Neutral Sentiment: PayPal remains a low-valuation name by market standards, with investors noting its roughly 11x earnings multiple and ongoing share repurchases as support for long-term value. Article: 24/7 Wall St. valuation note

About PayPal

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.