PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading Up 2.5% – Should You Buy?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s stock price traded up 2.5% on Monday . The company traded as high as $45.02 and last traded at $44.67. 15,893,141 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 34% from the average session volume of 24,236,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.59.

More PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: European merchant expansion — PayPal deepened its partnership with Nexi to embed PayPal wallet and checkout across Nexi’s merchant platform in Europe, which should help TPV and merchant distribution outside the U.S. over time. PayPal Nexi Tie Up Tests Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Venmo expansion momentum — Coverage highlights Venmo’s user growth (100M+ users) and international rollouts as a potential long-term commerce engine that can drive TPV and monetization if execution continues. PayPal Expands Venmo
• Neutral Sentiment: New analyst coverage is cautious — Loop Capital started coverage with a “hold” and a $46 price target (small upside from current levels) and flagged volatility; coverage can stabilize attention but doesn’t signal a strong buy thesis. Loop Capital Hold Coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Market attention remains high — Several outlets note increased retail/institutional focus on PYPL after recent moves; that can increase trading volume and volatility without changing fundamentals immediately. TipRanks Coverage Note
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities-class-action filings — Following a surprise CEO change and the withdrawal of long‑term targets, numerous law firms have filed or solicited lead-plaintiff roles alleging misleading statements about growth and outlook; these suits raise prosecution costs, potential settlements and governance scrutiny. PayPal Lawsuits And CEO Shakeup Put Focus On Valuation Gap Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter Notice
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership and guidance disruption — The surprise CEO ouster and the company’s withdrawal of long-term targets undermine management credibility and increase investor uncertainty about future execution and forecasts. Hagens Berman Alert
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and negative commentary — Independent notes and a Seeking Alpha downgrade call out checkout weakness and expected EPS declines; high-profile cautions (e.g., media commentators) amplify downside pressure on sentiment. Seeking Alpha Downgrade Jim Cramer Caution Coverage

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on PYPL shares. Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of PayPal in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $76.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $52.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PayPal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.11.

PayPal Stock Down 1.3%

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $45.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $41.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.43.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The credit services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.06). PayPal had a return on equity of 25.42% and a net margin of 15.77%.The company had revenue of $8.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is currently 10.35%.

Insider Transactions at PayPal

In related news, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total transaction of $1,361,317.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,373,113.34. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 37,613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.49, for a total value of $1,560,563.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,285,484.67. The trade was a 54.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 87,608 shares of company stock valued at $3,831,535. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of PayPal by 1.8% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,855,897 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $191,516,000 after purchasing an additional 51,268 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 164,901 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,058,000 after buying an additional 22,139 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,292,583 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $291,338,000 after buying an additional 313,180 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in PayPal in the 3rd quarter valued at $13,210,000. Finally, Ariose Capital Management Ltd grew its stake in PayPal by 347.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ariose Capital Management Ltd now owns 193,100 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $12,949,000 after buying an additional 149,898 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

About PayPal

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.