Wells Fargo & Company Raises PayPal Price Target to $80.00

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) received a price target increase from Wells Fargo & Company, which raised it from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note released on Thursday. The firm continues to maintain an "equal weight" rating on the payment services provider's stock.

Analyst Perspectives on PayPal Stock

PayPal has drawn attention from multiple analysts recently. Barclays recently raised their price target on PayPal from $92.00 to $110.00, assigning an "overweight" rating. Earlier, on October 28th, Monness Crespi & Hardt also boosted their price target from $95.00 to $110.00 and labeled the stock as a "buy." Additionally, Bank of America upgraded PayPal's rating from "neutral" to "buy," while enhancing their price target from $86.00 to $103.00. On January 6th, Susquehanna increased their target price from $94.00 to $101.00 and issued a "positive" rating. Moreover, Phillip Securities reinstated an "accumulate" rating with a revised price target of $90.00, up from the previous $80.00.

Market Consensus and Ratings

Across the board, fourteen equity research analysts have assigned a hold rating to PayPal, while twenty-one analysts have issued a buy rating, and one analyst gave a strong buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com data, the stock enjoys a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $89.32.

Current Stock Performance

As of Thursday, PayPal shares opened at $88.92, reflecting a slight decline of 0.8%. The company boasts a current ratio and quick ratio of 1.25, alongside a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Over the past year, PayPal's stock has fluctuated between a low of $55.77 and a high of $93.66. The stock's 50-day moving average is $87.08, while the 200-day moving average stands at $76.40. PayPal's market capitalization is approximately $89.15 billion, with a PE ratio of 21.22 and a PEG ratio of 1.42.

Recent Earnings Report

PayPal recently published its quarterly earnings on October 29th. The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.20 for the quarter, which surpassed the market consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.13. With a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%, the company posted revenues of $7.85 billion, slightly lower than the expected $7.88 billion. In comparison to the same quarter last year, PayPal experienced a revenue growth of 6.0%. Analysts forecast an EPS of 4.57 for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Interest in PayPal

Several hedge funds have recently adjusted their stakes in PayPal. FMR LLC significantly increased its position by 86.3% during the third quarter, holding now 16,762,080 shares valued at approximately $1.31 billion. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised their stake by an astonishing 12,919.4%, accumulating 10,500,000 shares valued at around $819.31 million after purchasing an additional 10,419,351 shares in the last quarter. Other institutional investors, including Legal & General Group Plc and Clearbridge Investments LLC, have also increased their holdings in PayPal.

Overview of PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a robust technology platform that facilitates digital payments for both merchants and consumers globally. With a large-scale, two-sided network, it connects users allowing them to transact, send, and receive payments both online and in-person, using diverse funding sources, including bank accounts, PayPal and Venmo accounts, credit products, and cryptocurrencies.

PayPal, Stocks, Earnings