Our top pick for
Beginners
Finder is committed to editorial independence. While we receive compensation when you click links to partners, they do not influence our content.
How to buy PayPal stock | $204.45
Own PayPal stock in just a few minutes.
Fact checked
PayPal Holdings, Inc is a credit services business based in the US. PayPal shares (PYPL) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. PayPal employs 23,200 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$20.3 billion.
How to buy shares in PayPal
- Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
- Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
- Search for PayPal. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: PYPL. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
- Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until PayPal reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
- Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$204.45, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of PayPal, depending on your broker.
- Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of PayPal. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.
What's in this guide?
- PYPL shares summary
- Compare share dealing platforms
- Is PYPL stock a buy or sell?
- Stock performance over time
- Can I short PYPL shares?
- Is PYPL suitable for ethical investing?
- Are PYPL shares over-valued?
- PayPal's financials
- How volatile are PYPL shares?
- Does PayPal pay a dividend?
- Other common questions
PayPal share price
Use our graph to track the performance of PYPL stocks over time.PayPal shares at a glance
Information last updated 2021-01-15.
| Latest market close | USD$204.45 |
|---|---|
| 52-week range | USD$82.07 - USD$249.85 |
| 50-day moving average | USD$228.2291 |
| 200-day moving average | USD$199.9294 |
| Wall St. target price | USD$240.78 |
| PE ratio | 91.3434 |
| Dividend yield | N/A (0%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | USD$2.65 |
Buy PayPal shares from these brokerages
Compare special offers, low fees and a wide range of types of investments among top trading platforms.The value of any investment can go up or down depending on news, trends and market conditions. We are not investment advisers, so do your own due diligence to understand the risks before you invest.
Is it a good time to buy PayPal stock?
The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.
This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.
PayPal price performance over time
Historical closes compared with the close of $204.45 from 2020-10-16
| 1 week (2021-01-07) | -13.01% |
|---|---|
| 1 month (2020-12-17) | -13.19% |
| 3 months (2020-10-16) | 204.45 |
| 6 months (2020-07-17) | 17.55% |
| 1 year (2020-01-17) | 76.19% |
|---|---|
| 2 years (2019-01-17) | 126.16% |
| 3 years (2018-01-17) | 147.91% |
| 5 years (2016-01-15) | 532.78% |
Is PayPal under- or over-valued?
Valuing PayPal stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of PayPal's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.
PayPal's P/E ratio
PayPal's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 91x. In other words, PayPal shares trade at around 91x recent earnings.
That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.
PayPal's PEG ratio
PayPal's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.3453. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into PayPal's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
PayPal's EBITDA
PayPal's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$4 billion.
The EBITDA is a measure of a PayPal's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
PayPal financials
| Revenue TTM | USD$20.3 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 15.83% |
| Gross profit TTM | USD$8 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 3.47% |
| Return on equity TTM | 17.95% |
| Profit margin | 15.48% |
| Book value | $15.77 |
| Market capitalisation | USD$283.6 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
Shorting PayPal shares
There are currently 13.8 million PayPal shares held short by investors – that's known as PayPal's "short interest". This figure is 8.3% down from 15.0 million last month.
There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting PayPal shares can be evaluated.
PayPal's "short interest ratio" (SIR)
PayPal's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of PayPal shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of PayPal shares traded daily (recently around 7.4 million). PayPal's SIR currently stands at 1.85. In other words for every 100,000 PayPal shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1850 shares are currently held short.
However PayPal's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of PayPal shares, or, against the total number of tradable PayPal shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case PayPal's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 PayPal shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0118% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable PayPal shares, roughly 12 shares are currently held short).
Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against PayPal.
Find out more about how you can short PayPal stock.
PayPal's environmental, social and governance track record
Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like PayPal.
When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.
PayPal's total ESG risk score
Total ESG risk: 16.47
Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and PayPal's overall score of 16.47 (as at 01/01/2019) is excellent – landing it in it in the 15th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.
ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like PayPal is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).
PayPal's environmental score
Environmental score: 2.41/100
PayPal's environmental score of 2.41 puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that PayPal is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
PayPal's social score
Social score: 10.65/100
PayPal's social score of 10.65 puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that PayPal is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.
PayPal's governance score
Governance score: 7.23/100
PayPal's governance score puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that PayPal is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
PayPal's controversy score
Controversy score: 2/5
ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. PayPal scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that PayPal has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary
PayPal Holdings, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.
| Total ESG score | 16.47 |
|---|---|
| Total ESG percentile | 14.76 |
| Environmental score | 2.41 |
| Environmental score percentile | 2 |
| Social score | 10.65 |
| Social score percentile | 2 |
| Governance score | 7.23 |
| Governance score percentile | 2 |
| Level of controversy | 2 |
PayPal share dividends
We're not expecting PayPal to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.
PayPal share price volatility
Over the last 12 months, PayPal's shares have ranged in value from as little as $82.07 up to $249.85. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while PayPal's is 1.1161. This would suggest that PayPal's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).
PayPal overview
PayPal Holdings, Inc. operates as a technology platform and digital payments company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of consumers and merchants worldwide. Its payment solutions include PayPal, PayPal Credit, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom, and iZettle products. The company's payments platform allows consumers to send and receive payments, withdraw funds to their bank accounts, and hold balances in their PayPal accounts in various currencies. It also offers gateway services that enable merchants to accept payments online with credit or debit cards, as well as digital wallets. PayPal Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Frequently asked questions
More guides on Finder
-
How to buy Gold Royalty Corp (GROY) stock when it goes public
Everything we know about the Gold Royalty Corp IPO, plus information on how to buy in.
-
How to buy Bustle Digital Group (PYPL.US) stock when it goes public
Everything we know about the Bustle Digital Group IPO, plus information on how to buy in.
-
How to buy Lucid Motors (PYPL.US) stock when it goes public
Everything we know about the Lucid Motors IPO, plus information on how to buy in.
-
How to buy HF Foods Group stock | $7.55
Steps to owning and managing HFFG, with 24-hour and historical pricing before you buy.
-
How to buy Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital stock | $69.54
Steps to owning and managing HASI, with 24-hour and historical pricing before you buy.
-
How to buy Griffin Industrial Realty stock | $65.9
Steps to owning and managing GRIF, with 24-hour and historical pricing before you buy.
-
How to buy FS Bancorp stock | $59.24
Steps to owning and managing FSBW, with 24-hour and historical pricing before you buy.
-
How to buy First Northwest Bancorp stock | $16.66
Steps to owning and managing FNWB, with 24-hour and historical pricing before you buy.
-
How to buy First National Corporation stock | $17.74
Steps to owning and managing FXNC, with 24-hour and historical pricing before you buy.
-
How to buy Farmers National Banc stock | $13.88
Steps to owning and managing FMNB, with 24-hour and historical pricing before you buy.
Ask an Expert