Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in PayPal Holdings, Inc. $PYPL

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management purchased a new stake of 196,987 PayPal shares in Q3, valued at about $13.21 million.
• Analysts' consensus is a "Hold" with an average price target of $75.84 (12 Buy / 24 Hold / 4 Sell), and institutional investors own roughly 68.32% of the stock.
• PayPal recently beat quarterly estimates (EPS $1.34 vs $1.20; revenue $8.42B vs $8.21B), issued FY2025 EPS guidance of $5.35–$5.39, and trades at a P/E of 11.2 with a market cap near $52.3B and a 1.0% dividend yield.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 196,987 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $13,210,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in PayPal by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 9,157 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $614,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,233 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA raised its stake in shares of PayPal by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 1,840 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Falcon Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in shares of PayPal by 2.5% in the second quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 6,295 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of PayPal by 1.1% during the second quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,285 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,062,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp reissued a "hold" rating on shares of PayPal in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Compass Point lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of PayPal from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 price target (down from $83.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PayPal presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $75.84.

PayPal Price Performance

Shares of PYPL opened at $55.89 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $59.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.39. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.01 and a 1-year high of $90.93. The company has a market cap of $52.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.20, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.42.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $8.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.21 billion. PayPal had a net margin of 14.96% and a return on equity of 25.64%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. PayPal has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.270-1.310 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.390 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. PayPal's payout ratio is 11.22%.

Trending Headlines about PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Political risk relief lifted sentiment — a social-media post from former President Trump that eased renewed transatlantic tariff fears sparked a market rally that helped fintech names including PayPal. This appears to be the main catalyst behind the stock’s intraday rise. PayPal Stock Jumps As Trump Shelves Tariff Threat
• Positive Sentiment: New customer-facing partnerships expand product utility — PayPal announced a partnership with april to offer free DIY federal and state tax filing for U.S. PayPal Debit Mastercard customers, and Giftcards.com expanded digital gift-card access across PayPal (with 5% cashback promos). These deals boost engagement and could modestly increase card/deposit activity and merchant spend. PayPal Introduces Free DIY Tax Filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst / thematic pieces highlight long-term optionality from AI and commerce integration — several write-ups outline PayPal’s AI-driven commerce and platform optionality, suggesting attractive long-term potential but limited near-term clarity. These are more strategic, not immediate catalysts. What Offers PayPal a Meaningful Long-Term Optionality?
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparisons across fintechs keep investors weighing relative growth vs. valuation — pieces comparing PYPL to peers (e.g., Upstart) highlight trade-offs between AI-lending growth and PayPal’s commerce/ payments moat, leaving positioning dependent on investor time horizon. PayPal vs. Upstart
• Negative Sentiment: Institutional trimming and bearish coverage weigh on sentiment — Wedgewood Partners reduced its PYPL stake, and several bearish/defensive pieces (earnings previews, analysis after multi-year lows) continue to highlight valuation and near-term pressure risks. These factors cap upside until clearer fundamentals or corporate catalysts arrive. Wedgewood Partners Trimmed Holdings
• Negative Sentiment: Negative analyst/market narratives persist — coverage noting that PayPal recently hit multi‑year lows and previewing challenging near-term comps contributes to continued downside risk absent clear upside catalysts. PayPal: Outlook After Hitting 5-Year Low

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Aaron Webster sold 9,282 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.29, for a total value of $615,303.78. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,486.71. This trade represents a 20.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,374 shares of PayPal stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.13, for a total value of $94,984.62. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 36,156 shares of company stock worth $2,432,524 over the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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