PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Down 2.6% After Analyst Downgrade

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s share price dropped 2.6% during trading on Wednesday after Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a sell rating. Rothschild & Co Redburn now has a $50.00 price target on the stock. PayPal traded as low as $53.65 and last traded at $54.08. Approximately 19,052,421 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 15,123,308 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.51.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PYPL. KGI Securities lowered their price target on PayPal from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Macquarie boosted their target price on PayPal from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on PayPal from $76.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on PayPal from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (down previously from $93.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.10.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, EVP Aaron Webster sold 9,282 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.29, for a total value of $615,303.78. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,366,486.71. This trade represents a 20.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total transaction of $860,875.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $2,133,799.21. This trade represents a 28.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 36,156 shares of company stock valued at $2,432,524 in the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal/NCA survey shows rising merchant adoption of crypto payments, with ~40% of U.S. merchants accepting crypto and strong merchant interest — a potential volume and product?expansion tailwind for PayPal. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Cointelegraph reports similar survey findings (nearly 4 in 10 U.S. merchants accept crypto), reinforcing the narrative that PayPal’s crypto products can increase payment volume and engagement. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal announced an acquisition of e?commerce platform Cymbio to expand its “agentic commerce” capabilities, which could boost merchant offerings and revenue diversification. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PayPal is broadening product monetization (gift?cards expansion, integrated tax filing), moves that could lift take?rates and non?transaction revenue over time. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage with a neutral/hold — not a positive catalyst but reduces conviction on stronger buy calls. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan and some analysts expect a Q4 revenue beat with in?line earnings — this sets up earnings (Feb 3) as a near?term catalyst but not a guaranteed upside surprise. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: HSBC cut its price target from $93 to $72 but kept a buy rating — lowers upside expectations even as institutional support remains. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Crypto market commentary highlights broader structural shifts (stablecoins/apps) that could both help and compete with PayPal’s crypto strategy. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded PYPL from neutral to sell and cut the price target to $50 — a clear near?term negative that directly pressures the stock and signals downgrade?driven selling. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage pieces highlighting a “brutal competitive landscape” and unanswered strategic questions raise investor concern about long?term growth and margins. Article Title

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in PayPal by 2.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PayPal in the second quarter valued at approximately $921,570,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 184,014 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,131,949 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $746,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in PayPal by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 8,493,311 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $605,488,000 after acquiring an additional 132,837 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Trading Down 2.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $50.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.84, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.82.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.14. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.64% and a net margin of 14.96%.The company had revenue of $8.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.