Bank of America Initiates Coverage on PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Analysts at Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.17% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on PayPal from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 5th. Compass Point upgraded PayPal from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group lowered their target price on PayPal from $61.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.03.

PayPal Stock Down 1.4%

PYPL opened at $46.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $43.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.64. PayPal has a twelve month low of $38.46 and a twelve month high of $79.50.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The credit services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 25.42%. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 13,515 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $621,960.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,425,837.66. The trade was a 30.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $1,361,317.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 51,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,373,113.34. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 87,608 shares of company stock worth $3,831,535 over the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at $949,758,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,276,205,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 143.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,089,586 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $297,130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,286 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 35.9% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,177,536 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $548,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,160,227 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in PayPal by 1,066.0% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,106,215 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $156,532,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925,583 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Concrete PYUSD use case: PayPal’s partnership to enable digital‑asset settlement of freight invoices with TCS Blockchain gives PYUSD a real B2B payments application that could add transaction volume and fee opportunities. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Stablecoin narrative supports adoption: industry reports show the stablecoin market concentrating around a few players, highlighting PYUSD’s growing relevance vs. smaller alternatives. This supports PayPal’s strategic push into tokenized payments. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage with limited upside: Bank of America started coverage with a “neutral” rating and a $48 target, signaling attention but only modest upside from current levels. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Re‑rating / valuation debate: Multiple market writeups are re‑evaluating PayPal after the share reset — this keeps the stock in focus and boosts trading volume but produces mixed buy/hold views. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Major legal overhang — several law firms have filed or solicited plaintiffs for securities class actions alleging PayPal misled investors about growth and guidance; lead‑plaintiff deadlines (April 20, 2026) intensify litigation risk and potential settlement costs. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Several senior executives have disclosed sizable sales (EVP Frank Keller, CAO Chris Natali and others), which investors often interpret as a near‑term negative signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest rising and recent downgrades: Reports show increased short interest and fresh downgrades / cautious price targets following PayPal’s Q4 revenue and EPS miss, which remain central to the bearish case. Read More. • Read More.

PayPal Company Profile

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a global digital payments platform that enables consumers and merchants to send and receive payments online, on mobile devices and at the point of sale. The company provides a broad set of payment solutions, including a digital wallet, merchant payment processing, checkout services, invoicing and fraud-management tools. PayPal’s platform is designed to support e-commerce, in-person retail and person-to-person transfers, targeting both individual consumers and businesses of varying sizes.

Key products and services in PayPal’s portfolio include the PayPal wallet and checkout ecosystem, the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile app, Braintree’s developer-focused payment gateway, Xoom for international money transfers, and PayPal Credit and buy-now-pay-later options.