PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Shares Down 2.8% – What’s Next?
by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets DailyShares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL – Get Free Report) were down 2.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $43.99 and last traded at $44.21. Approximately 19,569,424 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average daily volume of 24,824,965 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.49.
Key Headlines Impacting PayPal
Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Venmo goes global — PayPal announced Venmo users can now send/receive money with hundreds of millions of PayPal users across ~90 markets, expanding Venmo’s addressable market dramatically and improving cross‑border consumer network effects. This supports future user engagement and monetization, but will take time to translate into revenue. 200 Million More Friends on Venmo
- Neutral Sentiment: Valuation / investor commentary — Several analysts and commentators point to a low P/E (around 8) and argue PYPL looks cheap relative to fundamentals, which could attract value buyers if headline risk subsides. This underpins a potential recovery thesis but doesn’t negate near‑term legal/management pressure. PayPal: Mr. Market Is Ignoring Just How Cheap It Is
- Negative Sentiment: CEO ouster, withdrawn guidance and alleged market cap wipeout — Hagens Berman and others tie a surprise leadership change and the sudden withdrawal of long‑term targets to a roughly $10B market‑cap decline; investors are worried about governance and execution risk. Hagens Berman Alerts PayPal Investors
- Negative Sentiment: Wave of class‑action notices and lead‑plaintiff deadlines (April 20) — Multiple law firms (Pomerantz, Glancy Prongay, Faruqi, Rosen, Bernstein, Gross, Schall, Frank R. Cruz, etc.) have filed or are soliciting plaintiffs alleging securities fraud tied to disclosures during a Feb 25, 2025–Feb 2, 2026 class period. Litigation risk, potential settlements and management distraction are pressuring the stock. Pomerantz Investor Alert
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PYPL. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. HSBC lowered PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on PayPal from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on PayPal in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.03.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on PayPal
PayPal Stock Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $40.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.63.
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.82 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 25.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.
PayPal Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.35%.
Insider Activity
In related news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 13,515 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 value of $621,960.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,837.66. This trade represents a 30.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Frank Keller sold 29,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.02, for a total value of $1,361,317.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 51,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,373,113.34. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 87,608 shares of company stock worth $3,831,535. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of PayPal by 6.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,534,462 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of PayPal by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 27,953,803 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,874,637,000 after purchasing an additional 636,441 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PayPal during the fourth quarter worth $949,758,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,215,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $713,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in PayPal by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,803,241 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $513,966,000 after buying an additional 625,705 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.