SunTrust Banks, Inc. Downgrades PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) to Hold

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) was downgraded by research analysts at SunTrust Banks, Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They presently have a $60.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock. SunTrust Banks, Inc.’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.76% from the stock’s previous close. The analysts noted that the move was a valuation call.

PYPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Vetr raised shares of PayPal Holdings from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.01 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of PayPal Holdings from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of PayPal Holdings in a research report on Wednesday, July 5th. Instinet increased their price objective on shares of PayPal Holdings from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of PayPal Holdings from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.02.

PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) opened at 58.96 on Wednesday. PayPal Holdings has a 1-year low of $36.28 and a 1-year high of $58.96. The company has a market capitalization of $70.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.39 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.91 and a 200-day moving average of $46.34.

PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The credit services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. PayPal Holdings had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings will post $1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Holdings announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 26th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to buy up to 9.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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In related news, EVP Gary J. Marino sold 1,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total value of $70,848.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 37,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,967,527.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gary J. Marino sold 1,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.03, for a total value of $72,994.53. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 37,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,025,638.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 4,501 shares of company stock worth $240,989. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of PayPal Holdings by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,643,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,254,192,000 after buying an additional 2,549,683 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in PayPal Holdings by 28.2% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,453,931 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,600,728,000 after buying an additional 13,296,056 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in PayPal Holdings by 2,792.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 60,103,922 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,585,670,000 after buying an additional 58,026,239 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC increased its position in PayPal Holdings by 3.7% in the first quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 18,568,508 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $798,817,000 after buying an additional 663,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in PayPal Holdings by 15.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,813,195 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $637,263,000 after buying an additional 1,982,305 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.53% of the company’s stock.

About PayPal Holdings

PayPal Holdings, Inc is a technology platform and digital payments company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of consumers and merchants. The Company’s combined payment solutions, including its PayPal, PayPal Credit, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom and Paydiant products, compose its Payments Platform.