The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs cut its price target on PayPal to $65 (from $72) and kept a sell rating, implying only about a 9.7% upside from the current share price.
• The analyst consensus is a Hold with an average target of $76.88, reflecting mixed views (12 Buys, 23 Holds, 4 Sells) among analysts.
• PayPal recently beat quarterly estimates—EPS $1.34 vs. $1.20 and revenue $8.42B vs. $8.21B—and provided Q4 and FY2025 EPS guidance (Q4: 1.270–1.310; FY2025: 5.350–5.390).

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $72.00 to $65.00 in a report released on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a "sell" rating on the credit services provider's stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price target indicates a potential upside of 9.73% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on PYPL. HSBC boosted their target price on PayPal from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of PayPal in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Compass Point lowered their price objective on shares of PayPal from $66.00 to $56.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on PayPal from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on PayPal from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.88.

PayPal Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PYPL opened at $59.23 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $55.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.42. PayPal has a 52 week low of $55.85 and a 52 week high of $93.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.75.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $8.42 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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. Research analysts anticipate that PayPal will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at PayPal

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 12,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total value of $860,875.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Aaron Webster sold 9,282 shares of the company'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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,699 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,486.71. This trade represents a 20.64% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 36,156 shares of company stock valued at $2,432,524 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of PayPal

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of PayPal during the second quarter valued at $27,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc grew its stake in shares of PayPal by 100.4% during the 2nd quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 385 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 87,524 shares during the period. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PayPal in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in PayPal during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 68.32% of the company's stock.

PayPal News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PayPal launched its Transaction Graph Insights & Measurement program to give advertisers a cross‑merchant, purchase‑level view of customer behavior — a direct push to grow PayPal Ads revenue and improve ad measurement versus click‑based rivals. PayPal Ads Launches Transaction Graph Insights and Measurement to Improve Commerce Advertising Outcomes
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage (PYMNTS) highlights the same Transaction Graph product as PayPal leveraging its unique transaction data to challenge ad platforms — increasing the credibility of the monetization case for PayPal’s data assets. PayPal Leverages Massive Data Trove to Challenge Advertising Giants
• Positive Sentiment: YouTube has enabled US creators to accept payouts in PayPal’s stablecoin (PYUSD), signaling incremental real‑world PYUSD utility and ecosystem reach that could support PayPal’s crypto strategy and new revenue lines. Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years, Bitcoin’s ‘choppy dance’: Hodler’s Digest, Dec. 7 – 13
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts revisiting valuation after PayPal’s new AI‑focused PYUSD financing partnership with USD.AI (coverage on Yahoo Finance) suggest optionality from AI + stablecoin financing could be a longer‑term upside catalyst. PayPal (PYPL): Revisiting Valuation After New AI-Focused PYUSD Financing Partnership with USD.AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry recognition: High 5 Casino was named a leading PayPal casino in an industry roundup — incremental acceptance wins but limited direct impact on earnings. PayPal Casinos 2026: High 5 Casino Selected as Leading PayPal Casino
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary noted moderately bullish trading activity in PYPL (shares up intraday), reflecting investor reaction to the product/news flow rather than a structural re‑rating. Moderately bullish activity in PayPal with shares up 2.63%
• Negative Sentiment: Monness Crespi downgraded PYPL from Buy to Neutral, which can weigh on near‑term sentiment and institutional buying momentum. PYPL: PayPal just downgraded at Monness Crespi — here’s why
• Negative Sentiment: Industry discussion with Block highlights that scams have become an organized industry, underscoring ongoing fraud and compliance risks for payments firms like PayPal that could increase costs or regulatory scrutiny. Block and PayPal Say Scams Are Now an Industry

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.