Zacks Research Downgrades PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) to Strong Sell

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Macquarie Infrastructure increased their price target on PayPal from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on PayPal from $70.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered PayPal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of PayPal from $58.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.03.

PayPal Price Performance

PayPal stock opened at $39.08 on Wednesday. PayPal has a 12-month low of $38.46 and a 12-month high of $79.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.98 billion, a PE ratio of 7.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.43.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.82 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.42% and a net margin of 15.77%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other PayPal news, EVP Frank Keller sold 3,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.20, for a total transaction of $139,815.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,072,993.40. This trade represents a 6.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Suzan Kereere sold 4,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.84, for a total transaction of $249,054.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,022.72. This represents a 11.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,855,897 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $191,516,000 after buying an additional 51,268 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in PayPal by 15.5% during the third quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 164,901 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,058,000 after acquiring an additional 22,139 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in PayPal by 7.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,292,583 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $291,338,000 after acquiring an additional 313,180 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in PayPal in the third quarter worth $13,210,000. Finally, Ariose Capital Management Ltd lifted its holdings in PayPal by 347.0% in the third quarter. Ariose Capital Management Ltd now owns 193,100 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $12,949,000 after acquiring an additional 149,898 shares during the period. 68.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key PayPal News

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic AI partnership — PayPal announced a collaboration with Sabre and Mindtrip to build an end‑to‑end agentic AI offering for travel, which could expand payments volume and embed PayPal into travel bookings. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership change and strategy push — PayPal named Enrique Lores (ex‑HP) as CEO amid a broader push into embedded/automotive payments; the move brings experienced leadership but also signals executive turnover during a tough performance period. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation risk — Multiple law firms (Pomerantz LLP and Kessler Topaz) have opened investigations into PayPal on behalf of shareholders, increasing legal overhang and potential costs or distraction. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and price‑target cuts — Rothschild & Co. Redburn cut its price target to $32 and kept a sell rating; Zacks has also moved PYPL to a Strong Sell and trimmed EPS estimates after the earnings miss, increasing sell‑side pressure. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Underlying business weakness — Q4 results showed an EPS and revenue shortfall relative to consensus, analysts cut 2026–27 estimates, and several firms (Truist, Cantor Fitzgerald) issued pessimistic outlooks; commentary highlights near‑term execution and growth concerns. Read More.

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.