PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading 1.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) traded up 1.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $45.42 and last traded at $45.34. 12,716,919 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 23,811,078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.63.

Key Stories Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded merchant reach in Europe via a deeper PayPal–Nexi integration could support top?line growth and merchant take?rates in the region, giving investors a tangible execution catalyst. PayPal Nexi Tie Tests Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Loop Capital initiated coverage with a Hold and $46 target, highlighting execution risks, margin pressure and stagnant EPS — a formal stamp of caution that frames near?term expectations but keeps PYPL on the radar for value investors. Loop Capital Initiates Coverage on PayPal
• Neutral Sentiment: Discussion of PYPL as a “value” setup and some technical bullish patterns (breakout levels near $45.50) is attracting trader interest; this can boost short?term buying but doesn’t eliminate fundamental risks. QuiverQuant Coverage Summary
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities?fraud class actions have been filed following a surprise CEO change and the withdrawal of long?term financial targets; these actions raise legal, financial and reputational risk and have pressured sentiment and valuation. PayPal Lawsuits And CEO Shakeup Put Focus On Valuation Gap
• Negative Sentiment: Labaton Keller Sucharow filed an expanded securities class action on April 2 naming PayPal and certain executives — a new, specific filing that increases litigation momentum and potential damages/defense costs. Labaton Keller Sucharow Announces Expanded Securities Class Action
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple plaintiff firms (Pomerantz, Rosen, Hagens Berman, Levi & Korsinsky, Glancy, etc.) are soliciting lead plaintiffs and reminding investors of deadlines, signaling broad litigation activity and ongoing publicity risk. Pomerantz Investor Alert on PYPL
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling (no recent purchases) and large institutional exits — notably UBS AM’s ~21.9M?share reduction — increase supply pressure and signal waning conviction among some holders. That selling amplifies downside risk amid the legal cloud. QuiverQuant Insider & Institutional Activity

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PYPL. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on PayPal from $50.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research lowered PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their target price on PayPal from $50.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Evercore dropped their target price on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.11.

PayPal Stock Up 1.6%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $41.74 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.43.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The credit services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. PayPal’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.35%.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total value of $1,361,317.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 51,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,373,113.34. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 2,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.73, for a total value of $98,763.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,992.20. This represents a 65.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 87,608 shares of company stock valued at $3,831,535. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PYPL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $949,758,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PayPal by 6.5% in the fourth 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 period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in PayPal by 143.4% in 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 increased its stake in 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 valued at $548,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,160,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in PayPal by 1,066.0% during 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. Hedge funds and other 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.