PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Down 1.2% – What’s Next?

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) shares were down 1.2% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $56.66 and last traded at $57.65. Approximately 11,674,640 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 19,626,641 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.35.

Key Stories Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal reported second-quarter revenue of $8.68 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.38, exceeding estimates of $8.47 billion and $1.28, respectively. Management also raised full-year profit guidance, citing improving branded checkout performance, Venmo growth and cost savings. PayPal’s Q2 Earnings Call Focuses on Checkout Stability
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts raised their PayPal price targets following the earnings beat. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded its target to $70 and assigned an outperform rating, while JPMorgan, Citi, Mizuho and TD Cowen also increased targets, reflecting greater confidence in the turnaround. Analysts Boost PayPal Forecasts
• Neutral Sentiment: Takeover speculation remains part of the valuation debate. Stripe and Advent International reportedly offered $60.50 per share, but PayPal’s board viewed the bid as too low. Chief Executive Alex Chriss indicated openness to deals while maintaining a standalone turnaround strategy, leaving investors to balance potential deal upside against execution risk. PayPal CEO Signals Deal Openness
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs remains notably bearish, warning that stronger results have not resolved PayPal’s core strategic challenges. Analysts continue to question whether branded checkout can regain sustained momentum and whether management can execute its transformation while protecting profitability. Wall Street Splits on PayPal
• Negative Sentiment: A comparison with Visa’s latest performance underscores investor concerns: Visa surpassed $4 trillion in quarterly payments volume, while PayPal is still working to stabilize branded checkout. The contrast reinforces fears that payment-industry growth and pricing power may be concentrating more strongly with larger networks. Visa vs PayPal: The Post Earnings Winner

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $50.00 price objective on PayPal in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their target price on PayPal from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Argus set a $70.00 target price on PayPal in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial upgraded PayPal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $44.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PayPal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.50.

PayPal Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $50.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $46.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.29.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.47 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.31 earnings per share for the current year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s payout ratio is presently 10.51%.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $144,587.41. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,325,762.57. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Frank Keller sold 4,612 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.54, for a total value of $196,194.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,567 shares in the company, valued at $1,768,260.18. This trade represents a 9.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 8,543 shares of company stock valued at $364,325 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PYPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of PayPal by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,614,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,158,554,000 after buying an additional 10,356,256 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $949,758,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 227.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,804,208 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $624,364,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in PayPal by 9.7% during 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 last quarter. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.