PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Stock Price Down 1.9% – Here’s Why

Posted by Geri Gentry on Aug 19th, 2026

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL – Get Free Report) shares dropped 1.9% on Monday . The company traded as low as $60.15 and last traded at $60.47. Approximately 9,068,368 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 18,847,711 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.66.

Key Headlines Impacting PayPal

Here are the key news stories impacting PayPal this week:

Positive Sentiment: Takeover interest supports valuation. PayPal is reportedly in renewed sale discussions with a consortium involving Stripe and Advent International. The group previously submitted a bid of approximately $60.50 per share, while one analysis suggested a potential sale value of $70–$80 per share. PayPal reportedly in sale talks with consortium including Stripe and Advent PayPal Could Be Sold For $70-$80/Share
Positive Sentiment: Analysts see potential beyond PayPal’s checkout business. Piper Sandler raised its price target by more than 40% to $59, citing value in PayPal’s broader platform, although it retained a Neutral rating. Piper Sandler sees value beyond checkout
Positive Sentiment: Operating trends remain mixed but constructive. Recent coverage points to total payment volume and Venmo growth, while PayPal’s latest reported quarter exceeded consensus estimates for earnings and revenue. Should You Buy, Sell or Hold PayPal Stock
Neutral Sentiment: BNPL weakness has not materially spread to PayPal. Klarna’s outlook reduction triggered a sharp selloff in its shares, but PayPal and Affirm were described as largely shrugging off the news, suggesting limited immediate read-through for PayPal. Klarna craters on guidance cut while Affirm and PayPal shrug it off
Negative Sentiment: Core checkout growth and competition remain concerns. Analysts cautioned that weak checkout expansion and pressure from rivals could undermine the turnaround, tempering the bullish impact of takeover rumors. TikTok’s exploration of peer-to-peer payments also highlights growing competition for digital-payment activity. TikTok explores peer-to-peer payments via direct messages

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $50.00 price target on shares of PayPal in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of PayPal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Truist Financial set a $59.00 target price on shares of PayPal in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of PayPal from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.19.

Get Our Latest Research Report on PayPal

PayPal Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $51.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.89 and a 200 day moving average of $47.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.10. PayPal had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The business had revenue of $8.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. PayPal’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post 5.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PayPal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. PayPal’s dividend payout ratio is 10.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PayPal news, insider Suzan Kereere sold 3,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $144,587.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,325,762.57. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Chris Natali sold 1,337 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $77,679.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,749.60. The trade was a 37.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,612 shares of company stock worth $484,534. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PayPal

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PYPL. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of PayPal in the second quarter worth about $3,236,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $975,563,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PayPal during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $949,758,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $422,092,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in PayPal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $20,758,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.32% of the company’s stock.

PayPal Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.