PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong Sell”

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PYPL. Macquarie Infrastructure raised their price target on PayPal from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. KGI Securities lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their target price on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Dbs Bank raised shares of PayPal to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.03.

PayPal Price Performance

PYPL stock opened at $39.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $55.45 and a 200-day moving average of $63.42. The company has a market cap of $35.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.22, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. PayPal has a 12-month low of $38.46 and a 12-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 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 25.42% and a net margin of 15.77%.The business’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.84, for a total transaction of $249,054.08. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,022.72. This represents a 11.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Frank Keller sold 3,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.20, for a total value of $139,815.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,567 shares in the company, valued at $2,072,993.40. This trade represents a 6.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of PayPal by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 2.3% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 27,953,803 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,874,637,000 after acquiring an additional 636,441 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PayPal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $949,758,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in PayPal by 1.6% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 11,992,031 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $891,248,000 after purchasing an additional 184,014 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in PayPal by 10.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,131,949 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $746,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,365 shares during the last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic AI partnership — PayPal announced a collaboration with Sabre and Mindtrip to build an end?to?end agentic AI offering for travel, which could expand payments volume and embed PayPal into travel bookings. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership change and strategy push — PayPal named Enrique Lores (ex?HP) as CEO amid a broader push into embedded/automotive payments; the move brings experienced leadership but also signals executive turnover during a tough performance period. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation risk — Multiple law firms (Pomerantz LLP and Kessler Topaz) have opened investigations into PayPal on behalf of shareholders, increasing legal overhang and potential costs or distraction. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and price?target cuts — Rothschild & Co. Redburn cut its price target to $32 and kept a sell rating; Zacks has also moved PYPL to a Strong Sell and trimmed EPS estimates after the earnings miss, increasing sell?side pressure. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Underlying business weakness — Q4 results showed an EPS and revenue shortfall relative to consensus, analysts cut 2026–27 estimates, and several firms (Truist, Cantor Fitzgerald) issued pessimistic outlooks; commentary highlights near?term execution and growth concerns. 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.