Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the credit services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.11% from the company’s current price.

PYPL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded PayPal from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $107.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on PayPal from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.97.

PayPal Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:PYPL opened at $70.73 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $83.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.89. The company has a market capitalization of $69.97 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. PayPal has a 52-week low of $56.97 and a 52-week high of $93.66.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.27 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 23.67% and a net margin of 13.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $1,086,508,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in PayPal by 12,919.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 10,500,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $819,315,000 after buying an additional 10,419,351 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in PayPal by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,924,106 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,529,823,000 after buying an additional 9,313,783 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in PayPal by 86.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,762,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,307,945,000 after buying an additional 7,767,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in PayPal by 284.0% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,804,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $666,100,000 after buying an additional 5,772,198 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.