PayPal Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:PYPL)

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 157,997 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 52% compared to the typical volume of 103,667 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Macquarie increased their price objective on shares of PayPal from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their price target on PayPal from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on PayPal from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. William Blair upgraded PayPal to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.58.

PayPal Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of PYPL opened at $76.76 on Friday. PayPal has a 1 year low of $50.25 and a 1 year high of $78.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $78.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.43.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $7.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.82 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.82%. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that PayPal will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its holdings in PayPal by 77.5% during the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 394 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank bought a new stake in PayPal in the first quarter worth $27,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the first quarter valued at $30,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its position in PayPal by 65.8% during the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 466 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. 68.32% of the stock is owned by 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.