PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup has issued a "neutral" rating for PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) with a price target of $78.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.59% from the current price.
• PayPal experienced a 2.8% decline in trading on the day of the report, bringing its stock price down to $68.07 with a market cap of $65.03 billion.
• Insider activity shows that executives sold a total of 15,102 shares in the past three months, raising questions about their confidence in the stock's future performance.

Research analysts at Citigroup began coverage on shares of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a "neutral" rating and a $78.00 price target on the credit services provider's stock. Citigroup's target price suggests a potential upside of 14.59% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler set a $74.00 target price on PayPal in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of PayPal from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PayPal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $82.57.

PayPal Trading Down 2.8%

NASDAQ PYPL traded down $1.98 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $68.07. 8,155,999 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,583,108. The firm has a market cap of $65.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.44. PayPal has a 12-month low of $55.85 and a 12-month high of $93.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit services provider reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.08 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.35% and a net margin of 14.49%.During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. PayPal has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.180-1.220 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 5.150-5.300 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PayPal will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Chris Natali sold 7,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.35, for a total value of $492,523.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Diego Scotti sold 3,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.12, for a total transaction of $265,282.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,174,279.68. The trade was a 18.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,102 shares of company stock valued at $1,046,607 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in PayPal by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,221,849 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $5,625,976,000 after purchasing an additional 276,339 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PayPal in the second quarter worth about $921,570,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in PayPal by 1.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 184,014 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in PayPal by 19.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 11,238,218 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $733,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798,330 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in PayPal by 5.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,038,584 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $746,068,000 after purchasing an additional 522,514 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc operates a technology platform that enables digital payments on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. It operates a two-sided network at scale that connects merchants and consumers that enables its customers to connect, transact, and send and receive payments through online and in person, as well as transfer and withdraw funds using various funding sources, such as bank accounts, PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products comprising its installment products, credit and debit cards, and cryptocurrencies, as well as other stored value products, including gift cards and eligible rewards.

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