PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Trading 6.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) traded up 6.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $48.00 and last traded at $47.02. 57,943,127 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 119% from the average session volume of 26,427,926 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.05.

PayPal News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Buyout/takeover interest: Reports that PayPal has attracted unsolicited takeover approaches (some suitors eye the whole company, others specific assets) sparked a sharp rally as investors priced in a potential acquisition premium. PayPal attracts takeover interest (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Buyout chatter amplified by executive change: Market commentary tied a recent CEO/executive shakeup to increased M&A interest, helping lift sentiment despite recent earnings misses. Buyout Chatter Lifts PYPL Stock (Zacks)
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic investments: PayPal Ventures participated in a $16.6M Series A for Xflow (cross?border payments for Indian exporters), signaling continued investment in growth opportunities and international payments capabilities. PayPal Ventures helps Xflow raise $16M (PYMNTS)
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually large options activity and a temporary LULD trading pause signaled speculative positioning and intraday volatility but do not by themselves change fundamentals.
• Neutral Sentiment: Some commentary (features and “stock of the day” pieces) argues the stock may be oversold and could be experiencing a capitulation bounce; this is speculative and dependent on any concrete M&A or strategy news. Is PayPal Finally Coming Back To Life? (Benzinga)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities?class action filings and investor alerts were announced (several law firms are soliciting lead?plaintiff candidates for suits covering Feb. 25, 2025–Feb. 2, 2026), which increases legal overhang and could pressure the stock if litigation progresses. Rosen Law firm investor alert (Newsfile)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pressure: Wells Fargo reiterated a Hold but cut its price target from $58 to $48; other sell?side downgrades have flagged slower growth and a weak outlook, which can cap upside absent a clear strategic outcome (e.g., an M&A bid). Wells Fargo lowers PT on PayPal (InsiderMonkey)
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/security issue: PayPal disclosed a Working Capital application error that exposed PII of about 100 users over several months — a reputational and compliance risk that investors may view negatively. PPWC security lapse (PYMNTS)

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on PYPL. 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 note on Wednesday, January 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on PayPal from $60.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Compass Point raised PayPal from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.03.

PayPal Trading Up 6.7%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $43.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.69, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $52.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.93.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The credit services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.35%.

Insider Activity

In other PayPal news, EVP Frank Keller sold 3,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.20, for a total value of $139,815.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 51,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,072,993.40. This represents a 6.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.49, for a total value of $49,114.37. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,357.96. This trade represents a 75.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 42,304 shares of company stock worth $1,749,493 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PayPal by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,376,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,276,205,000 after purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in PayPal by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 27,953,803 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,874,637,000 after buying an additional 636,441 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PayPal in the 4th quarter valued at $949,758,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in PayPal by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,215,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $713,158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,843 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in PayPal by 1.6% during the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 11,992,031 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $891,248,000 after acquiring an additional 184,014 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

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.