Piper Sandler Has Lowered Expectations for PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price

Key Points

• Piper Sandler trimmed its PayPal target from $76 to $74 and maintained a neutral rating, with the new target implying roughly a 29% upside from the recent close.
• The consensus across analysts is a Hold with a $76.81 average target, but ratings and price targets vary widely (12 Buys, 26 Holds, 4 Sells), fueling mixed sentiment and near‑term volatility.
• Fundamentals are mixed: PayPal beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates and issued FY2025 guidance, yet shares trade near their 12‑month low and face pressure from insider selling and concerns about branded‑checkout volumes despite new partnerships and AI product expansion.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) had its target price dropped by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $76.00 to $74.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the credit services provider's stock. Piper Sandler's price target indicates a potential upside of 29.11% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on PYPL. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of PayPal from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down previously from $83.00) on shares of PayPal in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on PayPal from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of PayPal from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $76.81.

PayPal Stock Up 1.3%

PYPL stock traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $57.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,694,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,036,992. The company has a market capitalization of $53.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. PayPal has a 12 month low of $55.85 and a 12 month high of $93.25.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $8.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.21 billion. PayPal had a return on equity of 25.64% and a net margin of 14.96%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts expect that PayPal will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at PayPal

In other PayPal news, EVP Aaron Webster sold 9,282 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were 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 owned 35,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,486.71. The trade was a 20.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,374 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.13, for a total transaction of $94,984.62. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,156 shares of company stock worth $2,432,524. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PayPal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PYPL. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its stake in PayPal by 100.4% in the 2nd quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 385 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 87,524 shares during the last quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in PayPal during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. 68.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Deutsche Bank partnership could boost cross-border merchant settlement, payouts and withdrawals across the U.S., Europe and APAC — a clear commercial win if it drives higher merchant adoption and settlement revenue. PayPal Teams With Deutsche Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion into agentic commerce (Copilot Checkout with Microsoft) strengthens PayPal’s integration into AI-driven buying flows — could widen branded checkout adoption and lift GMV over time. Agentic Commerce Expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst opinions are divergent — recent notes span buys and sells, and price targets range widely (median near $72.50), leaving sentiment mixed and contributing to near-term volatility. Where PayPal Stands With Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: Options and investor attention have spiked in recent days — activity can amplify moves both ways but is not a direct signal on fundamentals. Options Activity
• Negative Sentiment: A recent downgrade from a major firm (to Neutral) and social-media reaction highlighting weakening branded-checkout volumes have raised concern over near-term revenue momentum and competitiveness. Opinions on Recent Downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple bearish pieces and analysis argue the stock has further downside after missing the 2025 market rally; these narrative-driven stories increase selling pressure and hurt sentiment. Crash Has More Room To Go
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling highlighted in social summaries and continued concern about soft trends in Europe and branded checkout volumes add to investor caution. Larger Drop Than Market

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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