PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Up 3.1% – Still a Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) traded up 3.1% during trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $59.03 and last traded at $58.78. 14,488,588 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 17,163,096 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.01.

More PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal shares moved higher alongside other fintech stocks as investors reacted to Block’s earnings beat and raised outlook. The article frames the move as sector-wide momentum rather than a PayPal-specific catalyst. Block Surges 16% on Earnings Beat and Raised Outlook; SoFi and PayPal Advance 4%
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal and Venmo expanded their payout partnership with LianLian Global, broadening access for creators, marketplaces and contractors across 96 markets. The added reach could support cross-border use of PayPal’s wallets. How Investors Are Reacting To PayPal (PYPL) LianLian Payout Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Payments software provider Justt introduced PayPal Alerts, which gives merchants pre-chargeback warnings. The feature may help merchants manage disputes, but it is a third-party product announcement, not a PayPal launch. Justt Launches ‘Flows,’ Its New Chargeback Automation Engine
• Negative Sentiment: Freedom Broker downgraded PayPal to Hold from Buy and cut its price target to $63 from $72, citing a lack of reacceleration in branded checkout. This underscores concerns that PayPal’s core checkout business is struggling to regain momentum. Freedom Broker cuts PayPal to Hold as branded checkout stalls

Analyst Ratings Changes

PYPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $50.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Truist Financial upped their target price on PayPal from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of PayPal from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of PayPal from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of PayPal from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.94.

PayPal Trading Up 3.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $50.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.07.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $8.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Chris Natali sold 552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.80, for a total transaction of $30,249.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $131,520. This represents a 18.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.96, for a total value of $253,715.52. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,888,723.68. This represents a 11.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,437 shares of company stock valued at $768,417. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,236,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in PayPal by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,614,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,158,554,000 after purchasing an additional 10,356,256 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in PayPal by 227.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $624,364,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,488 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $422,092,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in PayPal during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $20,758,000. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PayPal Company Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and businesses to send, receive, and manage money online and through mobile devices. Its services support online checkout, peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, payment processing, invoicing, and other commerce-related transactions.

The company’s portfolio includes the PayPal and Venmo brands, Braintree’s payment processing technology, and Xoom’s international money transfer service. PayPal also offers merchant tools, digital wallets, payment solutions, and consumer financing products through its platform and related services.

PayPal traces its origins to 1998 and became an independent publicly traded company after separating from eBay in 2015.