Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 107,187 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 11% compared to the average volume of 96,911 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PYPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday. Daiwa Capital Markets raised PayPal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $68.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on PayPal from $74.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised 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. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.03.

PayPal Stock Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $78.22 on Thursday. PayPal has a 1 year low of $50.80 and a 1 year high of $83.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.48. The company has a market capitalization of $81.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.12. PayPal had a return on equity of 22.82% and a net margin of 14.30%. The company had revenue of $7.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PayPal will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its holdings in PayPal by 77.5% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of PayPal by 50.6% during the 2nd quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of PayPal by 930.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 515 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in PayPal by 65.8% in the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 466 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 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.