PayPal Stock Edges Lower Tuesday: What's Driving The Action?

PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) shares are down on Tuesday following a turbulent stretch for the company marked by management changes. Here’s what investors need to know.

• PayPal Holdings stock is under selling pressure. What’s pulling PYPL shares down?

Takeover Interest Follows Leadership Shakeup

PayPal has drawn takeover interest after its shares lost more than 40% over the past year, prompting discussions with banks about potential bids from competitors. PayPal stock traded higher on Monday on reports about a potential deal, but it’s giving back some of the gains on Tuesday.

The company recently appointed HP Inc CEO Enrique Lores as its new CEO, effective March 1, after a sudden leadership change that saw Alex Chriss step down, reflecting dissatisfaction with the company’s turnaround efforts.

In addition, analysts have responded to these developments with caution, downgrading their ratings and slashing price targets. Canaccord Genuity’s Joseph Vafi recently downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold and cut his price target from $100 to $42, citing concerns over slower growth in branded checkout and a weaker fiscal outlook.

PYPL Stock Trades Below Key Averages

Technical indicators reveal that the stock is currently trading 3.2% below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) and 27.2% below its 100-day SMA, indicating a bearish trend.

Additionally, shares have decreased by 42.11% over the past 12 months, positioning them closer to their 52-week lows than highs.

The RSI is at 40.43, which is considered neutral territory, suggesting that the stock is neither overbought nor oversold at this time. Meanwhile, the MACD shows a value of -3.7015, with the signal line at -4.2106, indicating bullish momentum as the MACD is above the signal line.

The combination of neutral RSI and bullish MACD suggests mixed momentum, reflecting a potential for upward movement if market conditions improve.

• Key Resistance: $44.50
• Key Support: $38.50

Analysts Lower Targets, Mixed Ratings

Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Hold Rating with an average price target of $66.12. Recent analyst moves include:

• Truist Securities: Sell (Lowers Target to $39.00) (Feb. 10)
• Cantor Fitzgerald: Neutral (Lowers Target to $42.00) (Feb. 9)
• Macquarie: Outperform (Lowers Target to $58.00) (Feb. 4)

PYPL Shares Edge Lower Tuesday

PYPL Price Action: PayPal Holdings shares were down 1.02% at $43.60 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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