Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 118,758 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 62% compared to the typical daily volume of 73,113 call options.

PayPal Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of PayPal stock traded up $2.89 on Friday, hitting $91.81. The stock had a trading volume of 16,468,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,520,381. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. PayPal has a one year low of $55.77 and a one year high of $93.66. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.49. The stock has a market cap of $92.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.13. PayPal had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The company had revenue of $7.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. PayPal’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PayPal will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd bought a new position in PayPal in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in shares of PayPal by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 310 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of PayPal by 50.6% in the 2nd quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 344.3% during the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 351 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 186.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 412 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PYPL. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of PayPal from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut PayPal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of PayPal from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.32.

About PayPal

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.