PayPal Holdings Stock (NASDAQ:PYPL), Trade Ideas

PayPal Holdings

PayPal was spun off from eBay in 2015 and provides electronic payment solutions to merchants and consumers, with a focus on online transactions. The company had 426 million active accounts at the end of 2023. The company also owns Venmo, a person-to-person payment platform.

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PYPL

PayPal Holdings shares are trading lower by 1.8% during Thursday&#39;s session. The Producer Price Index (PPI) headline figure didn&#39;t meet expectations, but the underlying gauge surpassed them.

What&#39;s Going On With PayPal Shares?

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This Q&amp;A features Lauren Myrick, founder and CEO of Found. Myrick raised more than $75.2 million from leading VCs including Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund and Lightspeed Venture Partners to build a better banking system for self-employed freelancers and independent workers. 

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For college students, sending money to friends has never been easier thanks to peer-to-peer payment apps like Venmo, PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Cash App. But that convenience poses risks, including vulnerability to errors, fraud and the tendency to overspend.

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PayPal Holdings Inc

DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc. (TSXV:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/DMGI#TSXV">DMGI</a>) (OTC:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/DMGGF#OTC">DMGGF</a>) (FRANKFURT: 6AX), a vertically integrated blockchain and data center technology company, has announced a strategic collaboration with PayPal (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) (<a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=tIiPOdkCnTwupyNX5G74rcWgi4TFm5P91iWbIb21_GwpjmEDygaDfV6TeXHC-ejfRx2QwbAjczm2tmjp8JhrfA==">www.paypal.com</a>) and Energy Web (EWT) (<a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=8hUgxce34uuGU2f0VEX3Vl6OAPLRk-CKUio3PqzLXRbKhk-IRkYaiqagfL69tT_VEEMx8wMNErDfqmTIDI__5RLrQOvpF57A9hG0gTmLDwM=">www.energyweb.org</a>) to explore ways to decarbonize the Bitcoin blockchain. The companies are working together on developing methods for transacting on the Bitcoin network which would expand its use as a carbon neutral payment rail, thus advancing its application. &nbsp;
DMG, Energy Web, and PayPal are working together to publish a research paper, which we collectively believe will benefit users of the Bitcoin network who would like to take advantage of carbon neutral options in their transactions. PayPal, with its focus on developing its bitcoin payment rail, has been a leader in new payment technologies with the introduction of its enhanced services by integrating blockchain technology, launching the PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin with Paxos Trust Company in August 2023 for efficient transactions.
Energy Web, an independent non-profit that develops open-source software for clean energy solutions, launched its<a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=Pl2SJv78UD1nGh6gZeZaPQkxUEFSBTzH-fTMWgtNatLKNjruUEFDlQLV6ogr1fkC3eP4BJ75QbjzAdB7xuOW1KhoPWeOdqr7NNa9J4Mn9J4="> Green Proofs for Bitcoin</a> (GP4BTC), a first-of-its kind initiative to establish an independent, standardized energy measurement system for the Bitcoin mining industry, of which DMG was one of the first five companies to receive a Clean Energy Score.
DMG, with its focus on a carbon neutral bitcoin mining pool and technology to move bitcoin between users without adding carbon to their transactions, brings its unique technology stack and experience in Bitcoin Core software engineering. PayPal, Energy Web and DMG, each with its own domain expertise, are proud of the success in testing achieved so far and are keen to let the wider community review the progress in this "Green Mining Initiative."
DMG's CEO Sheldon Bennett commented, "We are pleased to be devoting resources to this collaboration with PayPal as well as Energy Web, which complements our ongoing efforts to decarbonize the Bitcoin blockchain. As DMG is already an industry leader with Terra Pool, the industry's first carbon-neutral mining pool with Petra, a transaction technology that leverages Terra Pool, we are excited to work with a large enterprise partner; PayPal's extensive capabilities will undoubtedly accelerate the advancements we have initiated, significantly advancing our sustainable practices forward."
Edwin Aoki, Chief Technology Officer of PayPal's Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currency Group, added "We are excited to be working with DMG to explore solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of decentralized financial networks globally. Their Bitcoin network software development expertise and access to carbon neutral mining infrastructure are valuable building blocks towards a more sustainable crypto ecosystem."
Energy Web's Chief Executive Officer, Jesse Morris commented, "Collaborating with DMG's innovative approach to blockchain sustainability sets a robust example for the industry. Having industry leaders like DMG actively engaging in our initiatives significantly enhances our efforts to integrate sustainable practices across all facets of blockchain technology."
In working with PayPal, DMG hopes to establish a new industry standard for blockchain applications in financial services, propelling the industry towards adopting more environmentally sustainable technologies. It represents a proactive approach towards addressing the environmental concerns associated with cryptocurrency operations, thereby contributing to the decarbonization of the global economy.&nbsp;Read about the collaboration among <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=OEYsJ9o5nWc8Mc0HR72o5Eqx87_9IMXLxmGEWnV1SjZYuLpHGqTkUpeDNq0FFDJeYt3-VnCeP5UvaH5HRG-w0z8_AdPsLEFl-bB9LOxeDC5IWZbHYfslvdSGFp5N3OTZklzUxzrRBaSWYF2gIoEeh2_BE4lntE2mKsy7M4eiDFHc_b8U6JH8DG-uN2NSPwBy">DMG, Energy Web, PayPal: Sustainable Innovation</a>.

DMGGF

TSXV:DMGI

DMG Blockchain Solutions Announces Collaboration With PayPal To Decarbonize The Bitcoin Blockchain; Developing Methods For Transacting On The Bitcoin Network Which Would Expand Its Use As A Carbon Neutral Payment Rail, Thus Advancing Its Application

Deep-pocketed investors have adopted a bearish approach towards PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>), and it's something market players shouldn't ignore. Our tracking of public options records at Benzinga unveiled this significant move today. The identity of these investors remains unknown, but such a substantial move in PYPL usually suggests something big is about to happen.
We gleaned this information from our observations today when Benzinga's options scanner highlighted 30 extraordinary options activities for PayPal Holdings. This level of activity is out of the ordinary.
The general mood among these heavyweight investors is divided, with 23% leaning bullish and 76% bearish. Among these notable options, 13 are puts, totaling $1,016,091, and 17 are calls, amounting to $1,537,611.
<h3>Predicted Price Range</h3>
Based on the trading activity, it appears that the significant investors are aiming for a price territory stretching from $40.0 to $85.0 for PayPal Holdings over the recent three months. 
<h3>Volume &amp; Open Interest Trends</h3>
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for PayPal Holdings options trades today is 4257.54 with a total volume of 14,273.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for PayPal Holdings's big money trades within a strike price range of $40.0 to $85.0 over the last 30 days.
<h3>PayPal Holdings 30-Day Option Volume &amp; Interest Snapshot</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1713554169_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Largest Options Trades Observed:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th>Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>05/17/24</td>
<td>$1.7</td>
<td>$1.69</td>
<td>$1.7</td>
<td>$67.50</td>
<td>$342.0K</td>
<td>4.1K</td>
<td>2.0K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>07/19/24</td>
<td>$4.8</td>
<td>$4.7</td>
<td>$4.75</td>
<td>$62.50</td>
<td>$332.5K</td>
<td>4.2K</td>
<td>58</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>05/17/24</td>
<td>$3.75</td>
<td>$3.7</td>
<td>$3.7</td>
<td>$62.50</td>
<td>$237.5K</td>
<td>6.3K</td>
<td>802</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>05/17/24</td>
<td>$2.45</td>
<td>$2.43</td>
<td>$2.45</td>
<td>$65.00</td>
<td>$196.0K</td>
<td>11.4K</td>
<td>845</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$9.85</td>
<td>$9.5</td>
<td>$9.75</td>
<td>$52.50</td>
<td>$185.2K</td>
<td>870</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About PayPal Holdings</h3>
PayPal was spun off from eBay in 2015 and provides electronic payment solutions to merchants and consumers, with a focus on online transactions. The company had 426 million active accounts at the end of 2023. The company also owns Venmo, a person-to-person payment platform.
Following our analysis of the options activities associated with PayPal Holdings, we pivot to a closer look at the company's own performance.
<h3>Where Is PayPal Holdings Standing Right Now?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Trading volume stands at 8,245,581, with PYPL's price down by -0.55%, positioned at $61.76.</li>
<li>RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching oversold.</li>
<li>Earnings announcement expected in 11 days.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Expert Opinions on PayPal Holdings</h3>
4 market experts have recently issued ratings for this stock, with a consensus target price of $68.0.
<ul>
<li>Maintaining their stance, an analyst from JMP Securities continues to hold a Market Outperform rating for PayPal Holdings, targeting a price of $70. </li>
<li>Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Evercore ISI Group keeps a In-Line rating on PayPal Holdings with a target price of $60. </li>
<li>In a cautious move, an analyst from RBC Capital downgraded its rating to Outperform, setting a price target of $74. </li>
<li>An analyst from Bernstein has decided to maintain their Market Perform rating on PayPal Holdings, which currently sits at a price target of $68. </li>
</ul>
Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.
If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for PayPal Holdings, <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a> gives you real-time options trades alerts.

Options

Check Out What Whales Are Doing With PYPL

Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat maintains PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) with a Market Perform and raises the price target from $66 to $68.

Price Target

Analyst Ratings

Bernstein Maintains Market Perform on PayPal Holdings, Raises Price Target to $68

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>).
And retail traders should know.
We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.
Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with PYPL, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.
So how do we know what these investors just did? 
Today, <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/?utm_source=insights">Benzinga</a>'s options scanner spotted 8 uncommon options trades for PayPal Holdings.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 37% bullish and 62%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 4 are puts, for a total amount of $182,690, and 4 are calls, for a total amount of $362,080.
<h3>Predicted Price Range</h3>
After evaluating the trading volumes and Open Interest, it's evident that the major market movers are focusing on a price band between $60.0 and $82.5 for PayPal Holdings, spanning the last three months.
<h3>Volume &amp; Open Interest Development</h3>
Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.
This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for PayPal Holdings's options for a given strike price.
Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of PayPal Holdings's whale activity within a strike price range from $60.0 to $82.5 in the last 30 days. 
<h3>PayPal Holdings Option Activity Analysis: Last 30 Days</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1713447999_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Significant Options Trades Detected:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>12/19/25</td>
<td>$8.95</td>
<td>$8.85</td>
<td>$8.85</td>
<td>$82.50</td>
<td>$123.9K</td>
<td>310</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">140</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>03/21/25</td>
<td>$7.6</td>
<td>$7.5</td>
<td>$7.5</td>
<td>$72.50</td>
<td>$108.0K</td>
<td>23</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>08/16/24</td>
<td>$3.95</td>
<td>$3.9</td>
<td>$3.92</td>
<td>$70.00</td>
<td>$85.2K</td>
<td>1.3K</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">61</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>05/03/24</td>
<td>$4.95</td>
<td>$4.85</td>
<td>$4.9</td>
<td>$66.00</td>
<td>$65.1K</td>
<td>344</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">134</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>07/19/24</td>
<td>$4.55</td>
<td>$4.45</td>
<td>$4.49</td>
<td>$65.00</td>
<td>$44.9K</td>
<td>3.6K</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About PayPal Holdings</h3>
PayPal was spun off from eBay in 2015 and provides electronic payment solutions to merchants and consumers, with a focus on online transactions. The company had 426 million active accounts at the end of 2023. The company also owns Venmo, a person-to-person payment platform.
In light of the recent options history for PayPal Holdings, it's now appropriate to focus on the company itself. We aim to explore its current performance.
<h3>Current Position of PayPal Holdings</h3>
<ul>
<li>With a volume of 259,310, the price of PYPL is up 0.55% at $63.61. </li>
<li>RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.</li>
<li>Next earnings are expected to be released in 12 days.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Expert Opinions on PayPal Holdings</h3>
In the last month, 3 experts released ratings on this stock with an average target price of $68.0.
<ul>
<li>An analyst from JMP Securities has decided to maintain their Market Outperform rating on PayPal Holdings, which currently sits at a price target of $70. </li>
<li>An analyst from RBC Capital downgraded its action to Outperform with a price target of $74. </li>
<li>Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Evercore ISI Group continues to hold a In-Line rating for PayPal Holdings, targeting a price of $60. </li>
</ul>
Options trading presents higher risks and potential rewards. Astute traders manage these risks by continually educating themselves, adapting their strategies, monitoring multiple indicators, and keeping a close eye on market movements. Stay informed about the latest PayPal Holdings options trades with real-time alerts from <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a>.

Behind the Scenes of PayPal Holdings's Latest Options Trends

PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) underwent analysis by 17 analysts in the last quarter, revealing a spectrum of viewpoints from bullish to bearish.
The table below offers a condensed view of their recent ratings, showcasing the changing sentiments over the past 30 days and comparing them to the preceding months.
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Bullish</th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Somewhat Bullish</th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Indifferent</th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Somewhat Bearish</th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Bearish</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Total Ratings</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">2</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">6</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">9</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Last 30D</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">1</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1M Ago</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">1</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">1</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2M Ago</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">1</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3M Ago</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">2</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">4</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">7</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Analysts have set 12-month price targets for PayPal Holdings, revealing an average target of $67.88, a high estimate of $85.00, and a low estimate of $60.00. This current average reflects an increase of 0.44% from the previous average price target of $67.58. 
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1713366068_0.png" alt="price target chart" />
<h2>Investigating Analyst Ratings: An Elaborate Study</h2>
The analysis of recent analyst actions sheds light on the perception of PayPal Holdings by financial experts. The following summary presents key analysts, their recent evaluations, and adjustments to ratings and price targets.
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Analyst</th>
<th>Analyst Firm</th>
<th>Action Taken</th>
<th>Rating</th>
<th>Current Price Target</th>
<th>Prior Price Target</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>David Scharf</td>
<td>JMP Securities</td>
<td>Raises</td>
<td>Market Outperform</td>
<td>$70.00</td>
<td>$68.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>David Togut</td>
<td>Evercore ISI Group</td>
<td>Raises</td>
<td>In-Line</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$56.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Daniel Perlin</td>
<td>RBC Capital</td>
<td>Maintains</td>
<td>Outperform</td>
<td>$74.00</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Timothy Chiodo</td>
<td>UBS</td>
<td>Raises</td>
<td>Neutral</td>
<td>$63.00</td>
<td>$56.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kazuya Nishimura</td>
<td>Daiwa Capital</td>
<td>Lowers</td>
<td>Neutral</td>
<td>$62.00</td>
<td>$64.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Werner Eisenmann</td>
<td>DZ Bank</td>
<td>Announces</td>
<td>Hold</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Tien-Tsin Huang</td>
<td>JP Morgan</td>
<td>Lowers</td>
<td>Overweight</td>
<td>$70.00</td>
<td>$75.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>David Scharf</td>
<td>JMP Securities</td>
<td>Maintains</td>
<td>Market Outperform</td>
<td>$68.00</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rufus Hone</td>
<td>BMO Capital</td>
<td>Lowers</td>
<td>Market Perform</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$65.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joseph Vafi</td>
<td>Canaccord Genuity</td>
<td>Lowers</td>
<td>Buy</td>
<td>$80.00</td>
<td>$100.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ashwin Shirvaikar</td>
<td>Citigroup</td>
<td>Lowers</td>
<td>Buy</td>
<td>$73.00</td>
<td>$76.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Charles Nabhan</td>
<td>Stephens &amp; Co.</td>
<td>Maintains</td>
<td>Equal-Weight</td>
<td>$70.00</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Daniel Perlin</td>
<td>RBC Capital</td>
<td>Raises</td>
<td>Outperform</td>
<td>$74.00</td>
<td>$70.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dan Dolev</td>
<td>Mizuho</td>
<td>Lowers</td>
<td>Neutral</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$65.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Moshe Katri</td>
<td>Wedbush</td>
<td>Maintains</td>
<td>Outperform</td>
<td>$85.00</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Andrew Bauch</td>
<td>Wells Fargo</td>
<td>Raises</td>
<td>Equal-Weight</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$55.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Anthony Butler</td>
<td>Susquehanna</td>
<td>Raises</td>
<td>Neutral</td>
<td>$65.00</td>
<td>$61.00</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Key Insights:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Action Taken: Responding to changing market dynamics and company performance, analysts update their recommendations. Whether they 'Maintain', 'Raise', or 'Lower' their stance, it signifies their response to recent developments related to PayPal Holdings. This offers insight into analysts' perspectives on the current state of the company.</li>
<li>Rating: Analysts assign qualitative assessments to stocks, ranging from 'Outperform' to 'Underperform'. These ratings convey the analysts' expectations for the relative performance of PayPal Holdings compared to the broader market.</li>
<li>Price Targets: Analysts gauge the dynamics of price targets, providing estimates for the future value of PayPal Holdings's stock. This comparison reveals trends in analysts' expectations over time.</li>
</ul>
Analyzing these analyst evaluations alongside relevant financial metrics can provide a comprehensive view of PayPal Holdings's market position. Stay informed and make data-driven decisions with the assistance of our Ratings Table.
<a href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/PYPL/analyst-ratings?utm_source=Benzinga Insights">Stay up to date on PayPal Holdings analyst ratings.</a>
<h2>Unveiling the Story Behind PayPal Holdings</h2>
PayPal was spun off from eBay in 2015 and provides electronic payment solutions to merchants and consumers, with a focus on online transactions. The company had 426 million active accounts at the end of 2023. The company also owns Venmo, a person-to-person payment platform.
<h3>Financial Milestones: PayPal Holdings's Journey</h3>
Market Capitalization Analysis: The company's market capitalization surpasses industry averages, showcasing a dominant size relative to peers and suggesting a strong market position.
Revenue Growth: Over the 3 months period, PayPal Holdings showcased positive performance, achieving a revenue growth rate of 8.71% as of 31 December, 2023. This reflects a substantial increase in the company's top-line earnings. As compared to competitors, the company encountered difficulties, with a growth rate lower than the average among peers in the Financials sector.
Net Margin: PayPal Holdings's net margin surpasses industry standards, highlighting the company's exceptional financial performance. With an impressive 17.47% net margin, the company effectively manages costs and achieves strong profitability.
Return on Equity (ROE): The company's ROE is a standout performer, exceeding industry averages. With an impressive ROE of 6.87%, the company showcases effective utilization of equity capital.
Return on Assets (ROA): PayPal Holdings's ROA surpasses industry standards, highlighting the company's exceptional financial performance. With an impressive 1.77% ROA, the company effectively utilizes its assets for optimal returns.
Debt Management: The company maintains a balanced debt approach with a debt-to-equity ratio below industry norms, standing at 0.46.
<h2>What Are Analyst Ratings?</h2>
Benzinga tracks 150 analyst firms and reports on their stock expectations. Analysts typically arrive at their conclusions by predicting how much money a company will make in the future, usually the upcoming five years, and how risky or predictable that company's revenue streams are.
Analysts attend company conference calls and meetings, research company financial statements, and communicate with insiders to publish their ratings on stocks. Analysts typically rate each stock once per quarter or whenever the company has a major update.
Some analysts publish their predictions for metrics such as growth estimates, earnings, and revenue to provide additional guidance with their ratings. When using analyst ratings, it is important to keep in mind that stock and sector analysts are also human and are only offering their opinions to investors.
This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

The Analyst Landscape: 17 Takes On PayPal Holdings

JMP Securities analyst David Scharf maintains PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) with a Market Outperform and raises the price target from $68 to $70.

JMP Securities Maintains Market Outperform on PayPal Holdings, Raises Price Target to $70

PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) shares are trading lower by 1.8% to $64.72 during Thursday&#8217;s session after inflation impacting American producers showed <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/24/04/38201153/producer-inflation-shows-mixed-signals-in-march-keeps-risks-of-high-for-longer-inte">mixed results</a>. The Producer Price Index (PPI) headline figure didn&#8217;t meet expectations, but the underlying gauge surpassed them, leading to uncertainty about potential delays in interest rate cuts. 
Despite the headline figure falling short, the PPI showed a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, the highest in almost a year, following strong consumer inflation data, triggering notable market responses.<a href="https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/24/04/38201153/producer-inflation-shows-mixed-signals-in-march-keeps-risks-of-high-for-longer-inte">Read More</a>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why This Matters</h2>
PayPal&#8217;s stock is sensitive to changes in interest rates because it operates in the financial sector. Higher inflation readings may lead to concerns about the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy sooner than expected, which could result in higher interest rates. This can negatively affect companies like PayPal, which rely on low interest rates to support consumer spending and borrowing.
Higher inflation can also erode consumers&#8217; purchasing power over time. If consumers have to spend more on everyday goods and services due to inflation, they may cut back on discretionary spending, including online transactions facilitated by PayPal. This could potentially impact PayPal&#8217;s revenue growth and profitability.
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/24/04/38200062/spot-bitcoin-etfs-record-123m-net-inflow-amid-slowing-gbtc-outflows">Spot Bitcoin ETFs Record $123M Net Inflow Amid Slowing GBTC Outflows</a>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How To Buy PYPL Stock</h2>
By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for PayPal &#8211; be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.
Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of <a href='https://www.benzinga.com/money/best-stock-trading-platforms'>possible trading platforms here.</a> Many will allow you to buy ‘fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, or Amazon.com, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so. 
In the the case of PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>), which is trading at $64.94 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 1.54 shares of stock.
If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to ‘go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/how-to-short-a-stock">stock can be found at this resource.</a> Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading &#8211; either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.
According to data from <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a>, PYPL has a 52-week high of $77.95 and a 52-week low of $50.25.

What's Going On With PayPal Shares?

This Q&amp;A features Lauren Myrick, founder and CEO of <a href="https://found.com/">Found</a>. Myrick raised more than $75.2 million from leading VCs including Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund and Lightspeed Venture Partners to build a better banking system for self-employed freelancers and independent workers. 
<img alt="" class="lazyload" src="https://assets.entrepreneur.com/images/misc/1712345170_image-1.jpg" style="height:465px; width:400px" />
<div class="courtesy">Image credit: Courtesy of Found</div>
What inspired the idea for Found? 
I&#39;ve seen the frustrations of small business owners firsthand through my personal and professional life. On a personal note, my sister is a yoga studio owner and self-employed fitness instructor, and I saw her struggles navigating traditional finance and business management tools. Professionally, when I was the GM of Square&#39;s Payroll business, I saw how complicated, painful and stressful taxes can be for small business owners.
Both of these perspectives inspired me to further investigate the financial management and tooling challenges that self-employed business owners face. Connor Dunn, my co-founder, and I started talking to family members, friends and other self-employed business owners to understand their challenges. Many people don&#39;t realize that managing your finances when you&#39;re self-employed differs quite a bit from when you are a W-2 employee. There are different tax requirements and forms, and you are on your own to figure out how much you need to pay in taxes. We also saw a common theme that people start their own businesses because they want freedom, flexibility and creative control &mdash; not so they can become their own accountants.
During these conversations and additional research, we realized two important things. First, we could provide tremendous value to these self-employed individuals by giving them a toolkit to manage their finances &mdash; something we felt we were uniquely equipped to do because of our backgrounds at Square. Second, the self-employed population in America is large and growing: Approximately 60 million Americans today are self-employed, and self-employment will soon surpass traditional employment to become the majority of the American workforce. Shortly after these conversations, we started Found.
Why is doing taxes one of the most difficult financial tasks for freelancers? 
Unlike W-2 employees, business owners and freelancers do not proactively have income taxes taken out of their paychecks &mdash; and are expected to calculate and report their expected taxes themselves throughout the year. They are also frequently acting as their own &quot;finance department&quot; an area where most have very little expertise. This typically involves keeping business and personal finances separate, correctly calculating and proactively saving the proper amount for taxes, and tracking financial deadlines, expenses and fines.
In addition, tax laws are always changing and complicated by both state and federal policies. These laws are also starting to regulate how payments are invoiced, paid and tracked in relation to apps and platforms that we all interact with. For example, millions of freelancers, gig workers, solopreneurs and contract workers breathed a collective sigh of relief in December 2022 when the IRS delayed the new tax-reporting requirement for third-party payment platforms like Venmo, Cash App and PayPal, but that was just a temporary measure.
Keeping finances organized while also staying on top of these changing laws is a lot to manage, and the tools available to the self-employed are typically expensive and disparate. Because of this, and because there is the ever-looming risk of owing money in taxes at the end of the year, we frequently hear that doing taxes is one of the most stressful parts of being self-employed.
How does Found&#39;s partnership with Column Tax this year offer a solution for that? 
Found directly helps self-employed professionals save for and pay quarterly taxes. Found can automatically estimate and set aside money for taxes for our users based on their income. We can also help our users easily categorize expenses and provide guidance on what can and cannot be deducted as write-offs.
Found partnered with Column Tax to take these benefits a step further and provide tax filing services to its users, particularly those who are Schedule C filers. Column&#39;s tech is integrated into Found&#39;s suite of financial tools for independent workers. With Column Tax, Found Plus subscribers can access free tax filing services as part of their annual subscription.
Filing through Column Tax is already around 1.5-2 times faster than standard DIY tax software providers and can be even faster for certain filers like independent workers who often have more complex tax returns. Because Column Tax is able to pull data directly from Found accounts, this partnership can help save Found users a lot of time when entering financial details during the filing process. The IRS has estimated that self-employed individuals spend 24 hours on taxes per year! And pay $560.
Do you have any top tips for freelancing and side-hustling filers who want to file with ease? 
First, it&#39;s incredibly important to organize your income sources. Keep track of 1099-NEC forms from clients and 1099-K forms from payment processors like PayPal&nbsp;(NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/pypl#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) to avoid a last-minute scramble. Second, make sure to separate business and personal finances, ideally through maintaining separate bank accounts, which will help simplify end of year reporting. You also want to meticulously track all business-related expenses, as these could be deductible expenses and significantly lower your taxable income. This could include expenses related to equipment, supplies, home office costs, phone bills and any other materials needed for your business.
Lastly, it&#39;s crucial to understand your responsibility for paying self-employment tax in addition to regular income tax. To ensure you have sufficient funds to cover your tax bill, including estimated tax payments, allocate 20-30% of your freelance income into a separate savings account dedicated solely to taxes. If you expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal taxes for the year, make quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid underpayment penalties. Properly budgeting and making timely tax payments can save you from potential financial headaches down the line.
And what are some of the common mistakes they make during filing, especially around retirement? 
When we surveyed Found customers last year, we learned that only 22% of self-employed people know how to maximize potential deductions and write-offs, which means they are missing the chance to lower their taxable income &mdash; and therefore their tax bill. Some of the tax deductions, like when you buy a new laptop for your job or pay your CPA, are more straightforward, but there are so many others.
For example, saving for retirement is something everyone &mdash; whether you&#39;re a traditional W-2 employee or full-time freelancer &mdash; can be doing for their future. And when you&#39;re self-employed, you can likely deduct contributions made to several types of retirement plans, such as traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs and Solo 401(k)s. Some of these retirement accounts can lower taxable income by deferring the tax bill until the money is withdrawn in retirement. Not being aware of these benefits can lead to missed opportunities for tax savings.
The article &quot;<a href="https://www.marketbeat.com/articles/how-to-get-the-most-money-out-of-your-side-hustle-during-tax-season-from-an-expert-who-raised-752-million-to-make-filing-easier-2024-04-08/">How to Get the Most Money Out of Your Side Hustle During Tax Season, From an Expert Who Raised $75.2 Million to Make Filing Easier</a>&quot; first appeared on MarketBeat.

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>).
And retail traders should know.
We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.
Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with PYPL, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.
So how do we know what these investors just did? 
Today, <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/?utm_source=insights">Benzinga</a>'s options scanner spotted 9 uncommon options trades for PayPal Holdings.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 55% bullish and 44%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 2 are puts, for a total amount of $154,900, and 7 are calls, for a total amount of $239,610.
<h3>Expected Price Movements</h3>
After evaluating the trading volumes and Open Interest, it's evident that the major market movers are focusing on a price band between $50.0 and $80.0 for PayPal Holdings, spanning the last three months.
<h3>Volume &amp; Open Interest Trends</h3>
Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.
This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for PayPal Holdings's options for a given strike price.
Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of PayPal Holdings's whale activity within a strike price range from $50.0 to $80.0 in the last 30 days. 
<h3>PayPal Holdings 30-Day Option Volume &amp; Interest Snapshot</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1712672209_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Largest Options Trades Observed:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$16.6</td>
<td>$16.5</td>
<td>$16.5</td>
<td>$80.00</td>
<td>$128.7K</td>
<td>4.3K</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">78</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$7.9</td>
<td>$7.25</td>
<td>$7.25</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$72.5K</td>
<td>15.4K</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>08/16/24</td>
<td>$6.9</td>
<td>$6.85</td>
<td>$6.9</td>
<td>$67.50</td>
<td>$32.4K</td>
<td>427</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">15</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>04/12/24</td>
<td>$3.0</td>
<td>$2.99</td>
<td>$3.0</td>
<td>$64.00</td>
<td>$30.0K</td>
<td>983</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">102</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>06/21/24</td>
<td>$17.75</td>
<td>$17.65</td>
<td>$17.65</td>
<td>$50.00</td>
<td>$26.4K</td>
<td>2.3K</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">15</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About PayPal Holdings</h3>
PayPal was spun off from eBay in 2015 and provides electronic payment solutions to merchants and consumers, with a focus on online transactions. The company had 426 million active accounts at the end of 2023. The company also owns Venmo, a person-to-person payment platform.
Following our analysis of the options activities associated with PayPal Holdings, we pivot to a closer look at the company's own performance.
<h3>Present Market Standing of PayPal Holdings</h3>
<ul>
<li>With a trading volume of 1,416,253, the price of PYPL is up by 0.9%, reaching $66.94.</li>
<li>Current RSI values indicate that the stock is may be approaching overbought.</li>
<li>Next earnings report is scheduled for 21 days from now.</li>
</ul>
<h3>What The Experts Say On PayPal Holdings</h3>
2 market experts have recently issued ratings for this stock, with a consensus target price of $67.0.
<ul>
<li>In a cautious move, an analyst from RBC Capital downgraded its rating to Outperform, setting a price target of $74. </li>
<li>An analyst from Evercore ISI Group persists with their In-Line rating on PayPal Holdings, maintaining a target price of $60. </li>
</ul>
Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.
If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for PayPal Holdings, <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a> gives you real-time options trades alerts.

PayPal Holdings Options Trading: A Deep Dive into Market Sentiment

For college students, sending money to friends has never been easier thanks to peer-to-peer payment apps like Venmo, PayPal&nbsp;(NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/pypl#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) and Cash App. But that convenience poses risks, including vulnerability to errors, fraud and the tendency to overspend.
As a result, payment apps can contribute to financial stress at a time when young people are learning how to manage their finances on their own. &quot;Peer-to-peer payment apps are cash on steroids because they&#39;re a straw stuck into your bank account&quot; says Anne Lester, author of &quot;Your Best Financial Life.&quot;
Not only does that make spending easier and more &quot;frictionless&quot; Lester explains, but it also means &quot;if you trust the wrong person, then you&#39;re in big trouble&quot; because it can be difficult or impossible to get the money back.
To keep young people safe while using payment apps, money experts suggest taking these extra steps to guard against scams and overspending.
TRIPLE-CHECK THE RECIPIENT
One risk with peer-to-peer payment apps is sending the money to the wrong person by accident. &quot;If you send money, make sure you are 100% certain you are sending it to the right person, because it&#39;s very hard to get the money back&quot; says Nilton Porto, associate professor of consumer finance at the University of Rhode Island.
For college students living on tight budgets, Porto says, an incorrect payment could really impact their ability to pay for essentials like rent and food, even if they eventually get the funds returned.
PROTECT AGAINST FRAUD
Porto suggests being wary of unexpected requests, even those purportedly from a roommate, that claim to be urgent. &quot;We don&#39;t need to send money to almost anybody right away&quot; he says, explaining that scam artists often use urgency as a way to trick people into sending cash to them. Similarly, disregard any requests received through one of the apps containing a link that requests personal information, as it could also be a scam.
Erin Lowry, author of the &quot;Broke Millennial Workbook&quot; warns against downloading any unfamiliar payment apps. &quot;I would not be an early adopter to a payment app&quot; she cautions, given that it has access to your bank account.
As an additional precaution, Lowry suggests connecting payment apps to a bank account that you don&#39;t keep the bulk of your money in. &quot;My payment apps are connected to a bank account that&#39;s not my primary account, so if something were to happen, it&#39;s a low risk&quot; she says.
UPDATE YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS
&quot;Default privacy settings are usually public&quot; notes Amanda Christensen, an accredited financial counselor and extension professor at Utah State University. That means a young adult&#39;s payments to friends or funds received for a job could be visible to the public.
&quot;The social part of the payment apps is where we get some of the best scammers out there because they can see what&#39;s being regularly paid for&quot; Christensen says. To adjust who can see your activity in Venmo, for example, go into &quot;settings&quot; on the app and scroll to find the various &quot;privacy&quot; options, such as public, friends or private.
EARN A RETURN ELSEWHERE
Christensen suggests establishing a habit of transferring any balance out of payment apps once a week. &quot;Set a note in your phone&quot; she says, cautioning against treating the app like a checking account, where you let money sit.
Not only is cash sitting in an app vulnerable to fraud, but it also doesn&#39;t earn a return like it could in a savings account. Jake Cousineau, author of &quot;How to Adult&quot; and a high school teacher, says he sees many young people receiving payments for side jobs like tutoring through payment apps. Instead of quickly transferring the money into a savings account, they let it linger, which means losing out on interest that would otherwise be accumulating. Payment apps also generally lack the protections from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that come with bank accounts, he adds.
DON&#39;T FORGET TO BUDGET
The convenience of payment apps makes it easy to overspend, Christensen notes. That&#39;s why she suggests turning to cash at times for a week or so. &quot;Reconnect yourself to the pain of spending&quot; she says.
Cousineau recommends not letting &quot;these apps get in the way of having a detailed budget.&quot; Just because you can easily send a friend $20 with a few taps doesn&#39;t mean you should.
The apps might even be able to help. Porto says you can use the timeline of a payment app to help track your spending. Just as with a credit or debit card, you can scroll through your history to determine what changes you might want to make in the future. &quot;You can see where all the money went, which can be very powerful for college students&quot; he says.
In other words, leverage the power of these payment apps to help you manage your money, instead of just spending it.
______________________________________
The article &quot;<a href="https://www.marketbeat.com/articles/kimberly-palmer-what-college-students-need-to-know-about-payment-apps-2024-04-08/">Kimberly Palmer: What college students need to know about payment apps</a>&quot; first appeared on MarketBeat.

Whales with a lot of money to spend have taken a noticeably bearish stance on PayPal Holdings.
Looking at options history for PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) we detected 15 trades.
If we consider the specifics of each trade, it is accurate to state that 46% of the investors opened trades with bullish expectations and 53% with bearish.
From the overall spotted trades, 3 are puts, for a total amount of $136,146 and 12, calls, for a total amount of $843,050.
<h3>Expected Price Movements</h3>
Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $54.0 to $100.0 for PayPal Holdings over the last 3 months. 
<h3>Insights into Volume &amp; Open Interest</h3>
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for PayPal Holdings options trades today is 9220.93 with a total volume of 4,022.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for PayPal Holdings's big money trades within a strike price range of $54.0 to $100.0 over the last 30 days.
<h3>PayPal Holdings 30-Day Option Volume &amp; Interest Snapshot</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1712590250_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Largest Options Trades Observed:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>12/19/25</td>
<td>$20.5</td>
<td>$20.35</td>
<td>$20.35</td>
<td>$57.50</td>
<td>$386.6K</td>
<td>174</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>06/20/25</td>
<td>$5.5</td>
<td>$5.3</td>
<td>$5.3</td>
<td>$55.00</td>
<td>$57.7K</td>
<td>3.3K</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">110</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>10/18/24</td>
<td>$11.7</td>
<td>$11.15</td>
<td>$11.7</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$54.9K</td>
<td>381</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$6.05</td>
<td>$5.95</td>
<td>$6.05</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$53.8K</td>
<td>15.4K</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">90</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/16/26</td>
<td>$8.4</td>
<td>$8.05</td>
<td>$8.12</td>
<td>$95.00</td>
<td>$51.9K</td>
<td>12.9K</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">27</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About PayPal Holdings</h3>
PayPal was spun off from eBay in 2015 and provides electronic payment solutions to merchants and consumers, with a focus on online transactions. The company had 426 million active accounts at the end of 2023. The company also owns Venmo, a person-to-person payment platform.
Having examined the options trading patterns of PayPal Holdings, our attention now turns directly to the company. This shift allows us to delve into its present market position and performance
<h3>PayPal Holdings's Current Market Status</h3>
<ul>
<li>Trading volume stands at 2,803,759, with PYPL's price up by 0.69%, positioned at $65.6.</li>
<li>RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching overbought.</li>
<li>Earnings announcement expected in 22 days.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Expert Opinions on PayPal Holdings</h3>
In the last month, 2 experts released ratings on this stock with an average target price of $67.0.
<ul>
<li>An analyst from RBC Capital has revised its rating downward to Outperform, adjusting the price target to $74. </li>
<li>An analyst from Evercore ISI Group has decided to maintain their In-Line rating on PayPal Holdings, which currently sits at a price target of $60. </li>
</ul>
Trading options involves greater risks but also offers the potential for higher profits. Savvy traders mitigate these risks through ongoing education, strategic trade adjustments, utilizing various indicators, and staying attuned to market dynamics. Keep up with the latest options trades for PayPal Holdings with <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a> for real-time alerts.

PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) witnessed a surge in its stock performance, leading to the formation of <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/topic/golden-cross">a Golden Cross</a>. 
The company&#8217;s announcement of key appointments and partnerships has bolstered investor confidence and propelled the stock&#8217;s upward trajectory. 
Most recently, on April 2, news of a collaboration with Visa Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/V#NYSE">V</a>) for its peer-to-peer payment system moved the stock. On April 1, PayPal had also announced that Ernst &amp; Young CEO Carmine Di Sibio joined its board of directors. 
Also Read: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/24/03/37666058/paypal-stock-advances-as-company-unveils-new-high-margin-strategies-offline-expansion-pl">PayPal Stock Advances As Company Unveils New High-Margin Strategies, Offline Expansion Plans</a>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="630" height="465" src="https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/02115541/Screenshot-2024-04-02-at-6.15.25-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-274176" srcset="https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/02115541/Screenshot-2024-04-02-at-6.15.25-PM.png 630w,https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/02115541/Screenshot-2024-04-02-at-6.15.25-PM-300x221.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" /></figure>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">PayPal Golden Cross Formation</h2>
The Golden Cross formation signifies a bullish sentiment in the market. The Golden Cross occurs when the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) crosses above the 200-day moving average. 
In the case of PayPal stock, this phenomenon is evident as the 50-day SMA at $61.65 surpasses the 200-day SMA at $61.60, forming a Golden Cross.
This notable technical signal underscores investor optimism surrounding PayPal&#8217;s strategic initiatives and its potential for sustained growth in the digital payments landscape.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Investor Optimism Reinforcing Bullish Sentiment</h2>
Robust technical analysis underscores PayPal&#8217;s recent surge in stock performance, propelled by strategic catalysts. While the company encountered challenges over the past year, marked by a 14.54% decline in its one-year performance, recent developments have injected vitality into its market outlook. 
Year-to-date, PayPal has demonstrated resilience, posting a 4.78% increase, signaling a positive momentum shift.
Examining key technical indicators, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) highlights a compelling bullish trend reversal. The MACD&#8217;s upward trajectory suggests an increasing bullish momentum, further validated by the recent formation of the Golden Cross. 
This significant event underscores investor optimism and reinforces the bullish sentiment surrounding PayPal&#8217;s stock.
Moreover, the Bollinger Bands, which delineate price volatility and potential price reversal points, indicate a bullish investor sentiment as well. Although the Relative Strength Index (RSI) signals an overbought condition, PayPal&#8217;s stock seems well-positioned for sustained growth. 
Investors should closely monitor these technical indicators to gauge the stock&#8217;s performance and identify opportune entry and exit points.
With the formation of the Golden Cross serving as a pivotal technical indicator, PayPal&#8217;s stock performance appears poised for further appreciation. 
As the company navigates its strategic roadmap and capitalizes on emerging opportunities in the digital payments landscape, investors are eagerly anticipating sustained growth and value creation in the coming months.
Read Next: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/03/37958409/visa-unveils-new-ai-fraud-prevention-tools-to-safeguard-digital-payments">Visa Unveils New AI Fraud Prevention Tools to Safeguard Digital Payments</a>
Image: Shutterstock

Technicals

Signals

Tech

Trading Ideas

PayPal Golden Cross Indicates Bullish Sentiment After Visa Deal, EY Chief Joins Board

This whale alert can help traders discover the next big trading opportunities.
Whales are entities with large sums of money and we track their transactions here at Benzinga on our options activity scanner.
Traders often look for circumstances when the market estimation of an option diverges away from its normal worth. Abnormal amounts of trading activity could push option prices to hyperbolic or underperforming levels. 
Below are some instances of options activity happening in the Financials sector: 
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th>Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>SQ</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>05/17/24</td>
<td>$85.00</td>
<td>$28.5K</td>
<td>8.4K</td>
<td>5.3K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AGNC</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$10.00</td>
<td>$33.5K</td>
<td>6.7K</td>
<td>3.7K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>COIN</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>04/05/24</td>
<td>$260.00</td>
<td>$29.5K</td>
<td>1.1K</td>
<td>1.8K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$115.00</td>
<td>$78.0K</td>
<td>349</td>
<td>243</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>05/17/24</td>
<td>$65.00</td>
<td>$45.5K</td>
<td>8.6K</td>
<td>242</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>BX</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/16/26</td>
<td>$150.00</td>
<td>$25.2K</td>
<td>208</td>
<td>16</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>JPM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$170.00</td>
<td>$36.9K</td>
<td>4.4K</td>
<td>14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ALL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>07/19/24</td>
<td>$150.00</td>
<td>$25.5K</td>
<td>117</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GS</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$410.00</td>
<td>$53.9K</td>
<td>506</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Explanation</h2>
These bullet-by-bullet explanations have been constructed using the accompanying table. 
• Regarding SQ (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SQ#NYSE">SQ</a>), we observe a call option trade with neutral sentiment. It expires in 46 day(s) on May 17, 2024. Parties traded 50 contract(s) at a $85.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $28.5K, with a price of $570.0 per contract. There were 8427 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 5374 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For AGNC (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AGNC#NASDAQ">AGNC</a>), we notice a put option sweep that happens to be bearish, expiring in 18 day(s) on April 19, 2024. This event was a transfer of 1083 contract(s) at a $10.00 strike. This particular put needed to be split into 37 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $33.5K, with a price of $31.0 per contract. There were 6710 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 3762 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding COIN (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/COIN#NASDAQ">COIN</a>), we observe a call option sweep with bullish sentiment. It expires in 4 day(s) on April 5, 2024. Parties traded 50 contract(s) at a $260.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 3 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $29.5K, with a price of $590.0 per contract. There were 1190 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 1830 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding GL (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GL#NYSE">GL</a>), we observe a call option trade with neutral sentiment. It expires in 18 day(s) on April 19, 2024. Parties traded 200 contract(s) at a $115.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $78.0K, with a price of $390.0 per contract. There were 349 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 243 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For PYPL (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>), we notice a call option trade that happens to be bearish, expiring in 46 day(s) on May 17, 2024. This event was a transfer of 100 contract(s) at a $65.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $45.5K, with a price of $456.0 per contract. There were 8620 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 242 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For BX (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/BX#NYSE">BX</a>), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be bearish, expiring in 655 day(s) on January 16, 2026. This event was a transfer of 16 contract(s) at a $150.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 10 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $25.2K, with a price of $1575.0 per contract. There were 208 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 16 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding JPM (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/JPM#NYSE">JPM</a>), we observe a call option trade with bearish sentiment. It expires in 291 day(s) on January 17, 2025. Parties traded 10 contract(s) at a $170.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $36.9K, with a price of $3698.0 per contract. There were 4458 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 14 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For ALL (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ALL#NYSE">ALL</a>), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be neutral, expiring in 109 day(s) on July 19, 2024. This event was a transfer of 10 contract(s) at a $150.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 5 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $25.5K, with a price of $2552.0 per contract. There were 117 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 10 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For GS (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GS#NYSE">GS</a>), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be bearish, expiring in 291 day(s) on January 17, 2025. This event was a transfer of 13 contract(s) at a $410.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 4 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $53.9K, with a price of $4150.0 per contract. There were 506 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 0 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
Options Alert Terminology 
 - Call Contracts: The right to buy shares as indicated in the contract. 
 - Put Contracts: The right to sell shares as indicated in the contract. 
 - Expiration Date: When the contract expires. One must act on the contract by this date if one wants to use it. 
 - Premium/Option Price: The price of the contract. 
For more information, visit our <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/blog/how-to-understand-option-alerts/">Guide to Understanding Options Alerts</a> or read <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/options">more about unusual options activity</a>. 
This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

AGNC

COIN

9 Financials Stocks Whale Activity In Today's Session

PayPal Holdings's (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NYSE">PYPL</a>) short percent of float has risen 8.08% since its last report. The company recently reported that it has 22.95 million shares sold short, which is 2.14% of all regular shares that are available for trading. Based on its trading volume, it would take traders 1.33 days to cover their short positions on average.
<h3>Why Short Interest Matters</h3>
Short interest is the number of shares that have been sold short but have not yet been covered or closed out. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/how-to-short-a-stock/">Short selling</a> is when a trader sells shares of a company they do not own, with the hope that the price will fall. Traders make money from short selling if the price of the stock falls and they lose if it rises.
Short interest is important to track because it can act as an indicator of market sentiment towards a particular stock. An increase in short interest can signal that investors have become more bearish, while a decrease in short interest can signal they have become more bullish.
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/short-interest">List of the most shorted stocks</a>
<h3>PayPal Holdings Short Interest Graph (3 Months)</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1711745110_0.png" alt="short_fig" />
As you can see from the chart above the percentage of shares that are sold short for PayPal Holdings has grown since its last report. This does not mean that the stock is going to fall in the near-term but traders should be aware that more shares are being shorted.
<h3>Comparing PayPal Holdings's Short Interest Against Its Peers</h3>
Peer comparison is a popular technique amongst analysts and investors for gauging how well a company is performing. A company's peer is another company that has similar characteristics to it, such as industry, size, age, and financial structure. You can find a company's peer group by reading its 10-K, proxy filing, or by doing your own similarity analysis.
According to <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/">Benzinga Pro</a>, PayPal Holdings's peer group average for short interest as a percentage of float is 5.22%, which means the company has less short interest than most of its peers.
Did you know that increasing short interest can actually be bullish for a stock? <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/how-to-make-money-on-a-short-squeeze/">This post by Benzinga Money explains how you can profit from it.</a>
This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and was reviewed by an editor.

Short Sellers

Short Ideas

(PYPL) - Analyzing PayPal Holdings's Short Interest

Financial giants have made a conspicuous bearish move on PayPal Holdings. Our analysis of options history for PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) revealed 31 unusual trades.
Delving into the details, we found 48% of traders were bullish, while 51% showed bearish tendencies. Out of all the trades we spotted, 3 were puts, with a value of $117,142, and 28 were calls, valued at $3,305,532.
<h3>What's The Price Target?</h3>
Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $57.5 to $100.0 for PayPal Holdings during the past quarter. 
<h3>Analyzing Volume &amp; Open Interest</h3>
Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for PayPal Holdings's options for a given strike price. Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of PayPal Holdings's whale trades within a strike price range from $57.5 to $100.0 in the last 30 days. 
<h3>PayPal Holdings Call and Put Volume: 30-Day Overview</h3>
<img src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/story/2024/1711640791_0.png" alt="Options Call Chart" />
<h3>Biggest Options Spotted:</h3>

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Ask</th>
<th>Bid</th>
<th>Price</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th>Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>06/18/26</td>
<td>$18.85</td>
<td>$18.0</td>
<td>$18.85</td>
<td>$67.50</td>
<td>$552.0K</td>
<td>1.3K</td>
<td>150</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>06/18/26</td>
<td>$19.15</td>
<td>$18.3</td>
<td>$19.15</td>
<td>$67.50</td>
<td>$480.6K</td>
<td>1.3K</td>
<td>807</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>06/18/26</td>
<td>$19.3</td>
<td>$19.0</td>
<td>$19.0</td>
<td>$67.50</td>
<td>$285.0K</td>
<td>1.3K</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>06/18/26</td>
<td>$19.1</td>
<td>$18.3</td>
<td>$19.1</td>
<td>$67.50</td>
<td>$233.0K</td>
<td>1.3K</td>
<td>660</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>06/18/26</td>
<td>$19.15</td>
<td>$18.4</td>
<td>$19.15</td>
<td>$67.50</td>
<td>$204.9K</td>
<td>1.3K</td>
<td>1.2K</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h3>About PayPal Holdings</h3>
PayPal was spun off from eBay in 2015 and provides electronic payment solutions to merchants and consumers, with a focus on online transactions. The company had 426 million active accounts at the end of 2023. The company also owns Venmo, a person-to-person payment platform.
After a thorough review of the options trading surrounding PayPal Holdings, we move to examine the company in more detail. This includes an assessment of its current market status and performance.
<h3>PayPal Holdings's Current Market Status</h3>
<ul>
<li>With a trading volume of 2,988,154, the price of PYPL is up by 0.5%, reaching $66.9.</li>
<li>Current RSI values indicate that the stock is may be approaching overbought.</li>
<li>Next earnings report is scheduled for 39 days from now.</li>
</ul>
<h3>What The Experts Say On PayPal Holdings</h3>
Over the past month, 3 industry analysts have shared their insights on this stock, proposing an average target price of $65.66666666666667.
<ul>
<li>An analyst from Evercore ISI Group persists with their In-Line rating on PayPal Holdings, maintaining a target price of $60. </li>
<li>Reflecting concerns, an analyst from RBC Capital lowers its rating to Outperform with a new price target of $74.</li>
<li>An analyst from UBS has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on PayPal Holdings, which currently sits at a price target of $63. </li>
</ul>
Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.
If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for PayPal Holdings, <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/register174">Benzinga Pro</a> gives you real-time options trades alerts.

This whale alert can help traders discover the next big trading opportunities.
Whales are entities with large sums of money and we track their transactions here at Benzinga on our options activity scanner.
Traders often look for circumstances when the market estimation of an option diverges away from its normal worth. Abnormal amounts of trading activity could push option prices to hyperbolic or underperforming levels. 
Here's the list of options activity happening in today's session: 
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th>Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>WFC</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$32.6K</td>
<td>18.6K</td>
<td>1.6K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>C</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>03/28/24</td>
<td>$55.00</td>
<td>$145.2K</td>
<td>1.8K</td>
<td>703</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GGAL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>07/19/24</td>
<td>$35.00</td>
<td>$45.0K</td>
<td>24.6K</td>
<td>674</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>TOST</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$23.00</td>
<td>$27.7K</td>
<td>643</td>
<td>533</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>JPM</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$180.00</td>
<td>$136.5K</td>
<td>8.6K</td>
<td>529</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>COIN</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>05/17/24</td>
<td>$250.00</td>
<td>$28.8K</td>
<td>382</td>
<td>297</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$66.00</td>
<td>$42.8K</td>
<td>1.1K</td>
<td>198</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>MS</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>06/21/24</td>
<td>$95.00</td>
<td>$27.2K</td>
<td>13.6K</td>
<td>176</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>STNE</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>05/17/24</td>
<td>$18.00</td>
<td>$28.0K</td>
<td>58</td>
<td>144</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GS</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>11/15/24</td>
<td>$410.00</td>
<td>$219.2K</td>
<td>85</td>
<td>80</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Explanation</h2>
These itemized elaborations have been created using the accompanying table. 
• Regarding WFC (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/WFC#NYSE">WFC</a>), we observe a call option sweep with neutral sentiment. It expires in 296 day(s) on January 17, 2025. Parties traded 71 contract(s) at a $60.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 5 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $32.6K, with a price of $460.0 per contract. There were 18659 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 1634 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding C (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/C#NYSE">C</a>), we observe a call option trade with bearish sentiment. It expires in 1 day(s) on March 28, 2024. Parties traded 200 contract(s) at a $55.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $145.2K, with a price of $726.0 per contract. There were 1838 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 703 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For GGAL (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GGAL#NASDAQ">GGAL</a>), we notice a call option trade that happens to be bullish, expiring in 114 day(s) on July 19, 2024. This event was a transfer of 500 contract(s) at a $35.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $45.0K, with a price of $90.0 per contract. There were 24641 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 674 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For TOST (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/TOST#NYSE">TOST</a>), we notice a put option sweep that happens to be bullish, expiring in 23 day(s) on April 19, 2024. This event was a transfer of 533 contract(s) at a $23.00 strike. This particular put needed to be split into 15 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $27.7K, with a price of $52.0 per contract. There were 643 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 533 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For JPM (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/JPM#NYSE">JPM</a>), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be neutral, expiring in 23 day(s) on April 19, 2024. This event was a transfer of 76 contract(s) at a $180.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 13 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $136.5K, with a price of $1799.0 per contract. There were 8697 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 529 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For COIN (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/COIN#NASDAQ">COIN</a>), we notice a put option trade that happens to be bearish, expiring in 51 day(s) on May 17, 2024. This event was a transfer of 10 contract(s) at a $250.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $28.8K, with a price of $2885.0 per contract. There were 382 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 297 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding PYPL (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>), we observe a put option sweep with bullish sentiment. It expires in 23 day(s) on April 19, 2024. Parties traded 238 contract(s) at a $66.00 strike. This particular put needed to be split into 27 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $42.8K, with a price of $180.0 per contract. There were 1106 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 198 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For MS (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MS#NYSE">MS</a>), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be bullish, expiring in 86 day(s) on June 21, 2024. This event was a transfer of 80 contract(s) at a $95.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 7 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $27.2K, with a price of $340.0 per contract. There were 13620 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 176 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For STNE (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/STNE#NASDAQ">STNE</a>), we notice a put option sweep that happens to be bearish, expiring in 51 day(s) on May 17, 2024. This event was a transfer of 144 contract(s) at a $18.00 strike. This particular put needed to be split into 19 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $28.0K, with a price of $195.0 per contract. There were 58 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 144 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For GS (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GS#NYSE">GS</a>), we notice a put option trade that happens to be neutral, expiring in 233 day(s) on November 15, 2024. This event was a transfer of 80 contract(s) at a $410.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $219.2K, with a price of $2740.0 per contract. There were 85 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 80 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
Options Alert Terminology 
 - Call Contracts: The right to buy shares as indicated in the contract. 
 - Put Contracts: The right to sell shares as indicated in the contract. 
 - Expiration Date: When the contract expires. One must act on the contract by this date if one wants to use it. 
 - Premium/Option Price: The price of the contract. 
For more information, visit our <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/blog/how-to-understand-option-alerts/">Guide to Understanding Options Alerts</a> or read <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/options">more news on unusual options activity</a>. 
This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

GGAL

STNE

TOST

10 Financials Stocks With Whale Alerts In Today's Session

Wednesday,&nbsp;Visa Inc&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/V#NYSE">V</a>) announced the expansion of its value-added services by introducing three new AI-powered solutions within the Visa Protect suite aimed at enhancing fraud prevention for account-to-account and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/24/03/b37953823/visas-growing-services-business-infused-with-new-ai-powered-products" rel="noreferrer noopener">card-not-present (CNP) payments</a>.&nbsp;
This suite is part of Visa&#8217;s extensive range of nearly 200 products across five key categories: Acceptance, Advisory, Issuing, Open Banking, and Risk and Identity.&nbsp;
Visa&#8217;s commitment to combating fraud and securing transactions is backed by a $10 billion investment in technology and innovation over the past five years.
Also Read:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/02/37062601/tech-giants-including-microsoft-alphabet-paypal-slashed-34-000-positions-for-generative-ai-investmen" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tech Giants Including Microsoft, Alphabet, PayPal Slashed 34,000 Positions For Generative AI Investment In 2024: Report</a>
Visa&#8217;s efforts in fraud prevention helped block $40 billion in fraudulent transactions in 2023.
The new additions to the Visa Protect suite include Visa Deep Authorization (VDA), designed to enhance risk scoring for CNP payments through advanced deep learning models; an expansion of Visa Advanced Authorization (VAA) and Visa Risk Manager (VRM) to include non-Visa card payments, making these AI-powered solutions accessible for a broader range of transactions; and a real-time protection service for immediate payments like P2P digital wallets and account-to-account transfers, utilizing AI to assess risk and prevent fraud instantaneously.
Meanwhile,&nbsp;Mastercard Inc&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MA#NYSE">MA</a>) and&nbsp;Paypal Holdings Inc&nbsp;(NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) have tapped AI to enhance fraud detection and reduce expenses, Bloomberg&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-27/visa-adds-new-ai-tools-to-help-fight-digital-fraud-on-payments?srnd=technology-vp&amp;sref=TBDibEcD" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>.&nbsp;
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="750" height="650" src="https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/27081323/newplot-36.png" alt="" class="wp-image-267120" srcset="https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/27081323/newplot-36.png 750w,https://editorial-assets.benzinga.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/27081323/newplot-36-300x260.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></figure>
Meanwhile,&nbsp;Mastercard Inc&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MA#NYSE">MA</a>) and&nbsp;Paypal Holdings Inc&nbsp;(NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) have tapped AI to enhance fraud detection and reduce expenses, Bloomberg&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-27/visa-adds-new-ai-tools-to-help-fight-digital-fraud-on-payments?srnd=technology-vp&amp;sref=TBDibEcD" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>.&nbsp;
Mastercard is offering banks an AI-based risk detection tool to identify potential fraudulent transactions. At the same time, PayPal announced in January its plan to implement AI in its Venmo service to customize the online shopping experience for users.
Visa stock gained 27% in the last 12 months. Investors can gain exposure to the stock via&nbsp;SPDR Select Sector Fund &#8211; Financial&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/XLF#NYSE">XLF</a>) and&nbsp;IShares U.S. Financial Services ETF&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/IYG#NYSE">IYG</a>).
Price Action:&nbsp;V shares are trading lower by 0.14% to $281.01 premarket on the last check Wednesday.&nbsp;
Also Read:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/24/01/36684695/affirm-and-robinhood-make-it-to-top-fintech-stocks-for-2024-analyst-says-it-promise" rel="noreferrer noopener">Affirm and Robinhood Make It To Top FinTech Stocks for 2024 &#8211; Analyst Says It Promises Growth for Average Americans</a>
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image: Shutterstock/ Tony Stock

Media

iShares Trust Dow Jones US Financial Services Index Fund

Visa Unveils New AI Fraud Prevention Tools to Safeguard Digital Payments

This whale alert can help traders discover the next big trading opportunities.
Whales are entities with large sums of money and we track their transactions here at Benzinga on our options activity scanner.
Traders will search for circumstances when the market estimation of an option diverges heavily from its normal worth. High amounts of trading activity could push option prices to exaggerated or underestimated levels. 
Below are some instances of options activity happening in the Financials sector: 
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>PUT/CALL</th>
<th>Trade Type</th>
<th>Sentiment</th>
<th>Exp. Date</th>
<th>Strike Price</th>
<th>Total Trade Price</th>
<th>Open Interest</th>
<th>Volume</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>C</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>09/20/24</td>
<td>$60.00</td>
<td>$335.4K</td>
<td>23.2K</td>
<td>2.6K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PYPL</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/16/26</td>
<td>$62.50</td>
<td>$576.0K</td>
<td>4.7K</td>
<td>2.5K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>COIN</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>03/28/24</td>
<td>$285.00</td>
<td>$41.2K</td>
<td>1.1K</td>
<td>2.5K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>MS</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>06/21/24</td>
<td>$100.00</td>
<td>$268.0K</td>
<td>11.0K</td>
<td>2.0K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HOOD</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>06/21/24</td>
<td>$20.00</td>
<td>$120.0K</td>
<td>19.6K</td>
<td>848</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GS</td>
<td>CALL</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>04/05/24</td>
<td>$410.00</td>
<td>$49.4K</td>
<td>680</td>
<td>516</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SCHW</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BEARISH</td>
<td>01/17/25</td>
<td>$55.00</td>
<td>$77.0K</td>
<td>7.8K</td>
<td>372</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ZION</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>05/17/24</td>
<td>$40.00</td>
<td>$68.8K</td>
<td>88</td>
<td>350</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GL</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>SWEEP</td>
<td>BULLISH</td>
<td>04/19/24</td>
<td>$100.00</td>
<td>$30.4K</td>
<td>847</td>
<td>304</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SQ</td>
<td>PUT</td>
<td>TRADE</td>
<td>NEUTRAL</td>
<td>07/19/24</td>
<td>$80.00</td>
<td>$36.3K</td>
<td>514</td>
<td>170</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Explanation</h2>
These bullet-by-bullet explanations have been constructed using the accompanying table. 
• Regarding C (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/C#NYSE">C</a>), we observe a call option sweep with bearish sentiment. It expires in 178 day(s) on September 20, 2024. Parties traded 599 contract(s) at a $60.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 26 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $335.4K, with a price of $560.0 per contract. There were 23242 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 2632 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding PYPL (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>), we observe a call option sweep with bearish sentiment. It expires in 661 day(s) on January 16, 2026. Parties traded 300 contract(s) at a $62.50 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 29 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $576.0K, with a price of $1920.0 per contract. There were 4743 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 2581 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For COIN (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/COIN#NASDAQ">COIN</a>), we notice a call option sweep that happens to be bullish, expiring in 2 day(s) on March 28, 2024. This event was a transfer of 75 contract(s) at a $285.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 3 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $41.2K, with a price of $550.0 per contract. There were 1185 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 2518 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For MS (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MS#NYSE">MS</a>), we notice a call option trade that happens to be bearish, expiring in 87 day(s) on June 21, 2024. This event was a transfer of 2000 contract(s) at a $100.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $268.0K, with a price of $134.0 per contract. There were 11029 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 2017 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding HOOD (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/HOOD#NASDAQ">HOOD</a>), we observe a call option trade with bearish sentiment. It expires in 87 day(s) on June 21, 2024. Parties traded 500 contract(s) at a $20.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $120.0K, with a price of $240.0 per contract. There were 19635 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 848 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding GS (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GS#NYSE">GS</a>), we observe a call option sweep with bearish sentiment. It expires in 10 day(s) on April 5, 2024. Parties traded 101 contract(s) at a $410.00 strike. This particular call needed to be split into 16 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $49.4K, with a price of $490.0 per contract. There were 680 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 516 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• Regarding SCHW (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SCHW#NYSE">SCHW</a>), we observe a put option sweep with bearish sentiment. It expires in 297 day(s) on January 17, 2025. Parties traded 364 contract(s) at a $55.00 strike. This particular put needed to be split into 29 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $77.0K, with a price of $260.0 per contract. There were 7809 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 372 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For ZION (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ZION#NASDAQ">ZION</a>), we notice a put option sweep that happens to be bullish, expiring in 52 day(s) on May 17, 2024. This event was a transfer of 350 contract(s) at a $40.00 strike. This particular put needed to be split into 21 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $68.8K, with a price of $195.0 per contract. There were 88 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 350 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For GL (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GL#NYSE">GL</a>), we notice a put option sweep that happens to be bullish, expiring in 24 day(s) on April 19, 2024. This event was a transfer of 304 contract(s) at a $100.00 strike. This particular put needed to be split into 58 different trades to become filled. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $30.4K, with a price of $100.0 per contract. There were 847 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 304 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
• For SQ (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SQ#NYSE">SQ</a>), we notice a put option trade that happens to be neutral, expiring in 115 day(s) on July 19, 2024. This event was a transfer of 55 contract(s) at a $80.00 strike. The total cost received by the writing party (or parties) was $36.3K, with a price of $660.0 per contract. There were 514 open contracts at this strike prior to today, and today 170 contract(s) were bought and sold. 
Options Alert Terminology 
 - Call Contracts: The right to buy shares as indicated in the contract. 
 - Put Contracts: The right to sell shares as indicated in the contract. 
 - Expiration Date: When the contract expires. One must act on the contract by this date if one wants to use it. 
 - Premium/Option Price: The price of the contract. 
For more information, visit our <a href="https://pro.benzinga.com/blog/how-to-understand-option-alerts/">Guide to Understanding Options Alerts</a> or read <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/options">more news on unusual options activity</a>. 
This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

HOOD

SCHW

ZION

10 Financials Stocks Whale Activity In Today's Session

Evercore ISI Group analyst David Togut maintains PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) with a In-Line and raises the price target from $56 to $60.

Evercore ISI Group Maintains In-Line on PayPal Holdings, Raises Price Target to $60

Florida is implementing new measures to keep children and teenagers <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/topic/social-media">away from social media</a>.
What Happened: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday that bans the use of social media platforms for children 13 or under. The legislation also requires parental permission for those that are between the ages of 14 and 15.
The bill passed the Florida legislature earlier this month with bipartisan support.
For social media giants like Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/META#NASDAQ">META</a>), parent company of Instagram and Facebook, as well as Beijing-based TikTok owner Bytedance, it&#8217;s bad news.
Bytedance is already facing massive scrutiny from the federal government under a bill that could <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/asia/24/03/37800098/tiktok-ban-china-has-the-power-to-block-sale-gains-leverage-over-washington">force the company to sell its U.S. operations to a local buyer or face a complete shutdown</a> in the country.
The main argument behind the newly-signed bill is backed by <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/03/31334429/mark-zuckerberg-under-fire-as-allegations-of-ignoring-social-media-addiction-among-adolescents-surfa">rising levels of anxiety, depression and addiction</a> to social media amongst teenagers, which many commentators have blamed a lack of action by the platforms themselves, and purposely addictive design.
Also Read: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/general/entertainment/24/03/37543179/tiktoks-licensing-predicament-expiring-music-publishers-deal-amplifies-universal-music-grou?_gl=1&#x2A;jsptz3&#x2A;_ga&#x2A;NDQyMjI0OTU5LjE2Nzc1OTk3MDg.&#x2A;_ga_V7ZK73W7N0&#x2A;MTcxMTM4NDE2OS4yNDIuMS4xNzExMzkxMjUwLjAuMC4w">TikTok&#8217;s Licensing Predicament: Expiring Music Publishers Deal Amplifies Universal Music Group Dispute</a>
The bill did not clarify which companies will be affected by its language. But, it's expected that Snap Inc (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SNAP#NYSE">SNAP</a>) and X, formerly Twitter, will also be amongst those affected. 
The law would go live on Jan. 1, 2025, unless it's stopped by the courts in a likely challenge from social media lobby groups.
If enacted, the bill would automatically delete all accounts of children below the age of 14. For the platforms to fall under the legislation criteria, they must tick the boxes of having "addictive features." 
This includes infinite scrolling and push alerts, as well as having a user base of at least 10% under the age of 16 spending at least two hours per day on the platform, <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article287064320.html">reported</a> The Miami Herald.
"A child in their brain development doesn't have the ability to know that they're being sucked into these addictive technologies and to see the harm and step away from it," said Republican Speaker Paul Renner, who spearheaded the bill, during the signing ceremony on Monday at a Jacksonville school.
The bill came to be after DeSantis vetoed a less washed-down version earlier this month, which aimed to ban all social media use for children under the age of 16.
Why It Matters: Critics of the bill note its farther-reaching consequences. 
To be able to impose age restrictions, Floridians will have to essentially hold an "I.D. for the Internet.&#8221; This forces residents of every age to face identity checks before using any website that the government deems inappropriate.
A court challenge for the bill is widely expected to come from NetChoice, a lobby group composed of Big Tech companies including Meta, TikTok, X (formerly known as Twitter), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AMZN#NASDAQ">AMZN</a>), eBay Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/EBAY#NASDAQ">EBAY</a>), LYFT Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/LYFT#NASDAQ">LYFT</a>), PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/PYPL#NASDAQ">PYPL</a>) and others.
The group is already locked in battle in a high-profile case in the Supreme Court, which is <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/24/02/37353082/the-supreme-court-is-weighing-whether-the-first-amendment-should-apply-to-meta-youtube-other-soc">trying to decide whether social media companies should be treated like newspapers or like telecoms companies</a>, ultimately affecting how First Amendment free-speech laws are applied to them.
In a public statement, NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo called the Florida law "unconstitutional" and said it will protect "exactly zero Floridians."
In Szabo's opinion, HB 3 is a bad policy "because of the data collection on Floridians by online services it will in effect require."
While the group is defending the business interest of social media and other Big Tech companies, Szabo's sentiment echoes those who oppose government intervention in online services and would rather see a more free, less-controlled version of the internet.
"HB 3 forces Floridians to hand over sensitive personal information to websites or lose their access to critical information channels. This infringes on Floridians' First Amendment rights to share and access speech online," he said.
It&#8217;s not just Florida 
<a href="https://www.benzinga.com/government/23/04/31808170/tiktok-ban-or-not-kids-in-several-states-wont-be-able-to-use-social-media-without-parental-permissio">Several other states</a>, including Utah and Arkansas have also passed similar legislation. This could negatively affect social media companies and funds investing in them.
Global X Social Media ETF (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SOCL#NASDAQ">SOCL</a>) is the largest pure-play social media ETF, but other tech ETFs are heavy on social media companies, and include ​​Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/XLC#NYSE">XLC</a>), Fidelity MSCI Communication Services Index ETF (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/FENY#NYSE">FENY</a>) and ProShares Ultra Communication Services (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/LTL#NYSE">LTL</a>).
Now read: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/03/37908129/facebook-isnt-lame-for-musk-anymore-tesla-rejoins-zuckerbergs-social-media-platform-after-ghosting-i">Facebook Isn&#8217;t Lame For Musk Anymore? Tesla Rejoins Zuckerberg&#8217;s Social Media Platform After Ghosting It For 6 Years</a>
Shutterstock picture.

Equities

Sector ETFs

Social Media

AMZN

EBAY

FENY

LYFT

SNAP

SOCL

New Florida Law To Ban Social Media For Kids Under 14, Require ID Checks On All Ages—What's At Stake For Meta, Snap And Tech ETFs

ClearBridge Large Cap Growth ESG Strategy Q1 2024 Portfolio Manager Commentary

<a href="https://investorplace.com">InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice &amp; Trading Tips</a>
If your <a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-types/blue-chip-stocks/">blue-chip stocks</a> are underperforming, you have a big problem. Blue-chip stocks represent the best, most stable companies and can usually be considered solid performers. There are plenty of good names out there, so there&rsquo;s no need to holding battered blue-chip stocks.



Even with some recent pullbacks, the S&amp;P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite are up 5% on the year. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is comprised of 30 of the most prominent companies, is faltering. Its gains for the year are negligible at best.



Blue-chip stocks represent established companies that are leaders in their field. They often pay reliable dividends and are considered safe for long-term investors.



But you aren&rsquo;t getting those generous returns from the blue-chip stocks on this list. For various reasons, these battered blue-chip stocks are taking it on the chin right now, and threatening to pull portfolios down with them.



The Portfolio Grader is an ideal tool for identifying blue-chip stocks that aren&rsquo;t making the grade. The Portfolio Grader evaluates stocks based on earnings performance, growth, analyst sentiment and momentum, and assigns an &ldquo;A&rdquo; through &ldquo;F&rdquo; grade accordingly.



These blue-chip names are among the worst to have now. Act accordingly if you&rsquo;re holding any of these equities.



<h2>Apple (AAPL)</h2>



<div><img width="300" height="169" src="https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/apple-pay-300x169.jpg" alt="A close-up shot of the Apple Pay page"><div>Source: Bloomicon / Shutterstock.com</div></div>It wasn&rsquo;t too long ago that Apple (NASDAQ:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/aapl-stock-quote/">AAPL</a>) was the biggest company in the world by market capitalization. It was revered for innovative products, had a huge base of customers and was seemingly unlimited potential.



What in the heck happened to push AAPL to the ranks of battered blue-chip stocks?



But the shine on this Apple faded a bit last year, as iPhone sales slipped and earnings flattened. Apple saw drops in multiple products, including to Macs, home products, iPads and wearable technology.



It doesn&rsquo;t help that Apple is facing huge challenges in China, where iPhone sales are down 24% in the first few weeks of the year, in part because competitor Huawei is now offering its own 5G smartphone. 



Apple is also battling both the U.K. and U.S. on the legal front, with allegations that Apple&rsquo;s App Store unfairly stymies competition.



Apple is still a great company. But as an investment, it&rsquo;s best to leave it on the tree. AAPL stock is down 13% in 2024 and gets a &ldquo;D&rdquo; rating in the Portfolio Grader.



<h2>Tesla (TSLA)</h2>



<div><img width="300" height="169" src="https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/tsla1600-9-300x169.png" alt="Tesla (TSLA) on phone screen stock image."><div>Source: sdx15 / Shutterstock.com</div></div>Electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/tlsa-stock-quote/">TLSA</a>) was on a dynamic run at the beginning of the decade, rising over 1,000% in a two-year span from January 2020 to December 2021. Since then? A huge disappointment.



There are a couple of factors at play. First, Tesla dominated the EV market in that two-year period, but naturally, other car manufacturers began entering the market and giving Tesla competition. Tesla responded by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/17/tesla-slashes-prices-on-germany-cars-after-similar-cuts-in-china.html">lowering the prices</a> on some of its models to spur sales, and in turn <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookecrothers/2023/10/15/15k-drop-in-ev-prices-led-by-tesla-as-model-3-model-y-prices-fall/?sh=28d83c4d7e86">cutting its own profit margin</a>.



The second issue is Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk. Tesla&rsquo;s slip in stock price corresponds to his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform Twitter, which he rebranded to X. Musk sold billions of dollars in Tesla stock to finance the deal.



An activist at heart, Musk eagerly uses X as a platform to espouse controversial views and stir the pot. The drama <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-11-20/elon-musk-s-x-drama-hurts-tesla-where-it-matters-most">makes Tesla a less appealing brand</a> to would-be customers who don&rsquo;t want to be seen as endorsing Musk&rsquo;s brand of politics.



Tesla will report its first-quarter earnings on April 23 and <a href="https://investorplace.com/2024/04/dear-tsla-stock-fans-mark-your-calendars-for-april-23/">analysts are already bracing for bad news</a>. TSLA stock is down 37% in 2024 and gets a &ldquo;D&rdquo; rating in the Portfolio Grader.



<h2>Intel (INTC)</h2>



<div><img width="300" height="169" src="https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/intc1600-300x169.png" alt="Close up of Intel (INTC) sign at entrance of The Intel Museum in Silicon Valley. Intel is an American multinational corporation and technology company."><div>Source: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com</div></div>Semiconductor chip maker Intel (NYSE:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/intc-stock-quote/">INTC</a>) is facing some challenges. While its stock flails in 2024, bigger and better-heeled competitors are soaring on the power of generative AI chips, and in turn helping investors in those companies make money hand over fist.



So, it&rsquo;s no surprise that tech stock investors are turning away from Intel.



The company&rsquo;s foundry division posted a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/intel-discloses-financials-foundry-business-2024-04-02/">loss</a> of $7 billion in 2023 as it attempts to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor (NASDAQ:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/tsm-stock-quote/">TSM</a>), which already has the lion&rsquo;s share of the foundry market.



Intel is still investing in the business, pouring billions of dollars into increasing capacity. It currently has a 1% market share in the foundry business, but hopes to be No. 2 in the world and start turning a profit by 2030 (TSMC has the top spot locked up with a <a href="https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20231206-11949.html">58% market share</a>).



I don&rsquo;t know about you, but that&rsquo;s a long time to ask investors to wait for foundry profits. INTC stock is down 29% this year and gets a &ldquo;C&rdquo; rating in the Portfolio Grader.



<h2>PayPal (PYPL)</h2>



<a href="https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/paypal-pypl-1600.jpg"><img width="300" height="169" src="https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/paypal-pypl-1600-300x169.jpg" alt="PayPal logo and front of headquarters"></a>PayPal (NASDAQ:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/pypl-stock-quote/">PYPL</a>) is a fintech stock that may have ahead of its time. The stock rose 170% from January 2020 to July 2021, the Covid-19 shutdown era in which e-commerce was pretty much the only way to buy and sell products.



It&rsquo;s hard to believe that PayPal stock once topped $300. Now it could be had for less than $70. And while the company offers an impressive array of brands, including Zettle, Xoom, Venmo, Honey and Hyperwallet, there&rsquo;s massive competition in the fintech space.



The number of active users fell from 435 million in 2022 to 431 million in 2023. If PayPal is going to turn around its slide, it will need to find a way to reverse that trend.



PYPL stock is up 3% so far in 2024 and gets a &ldquo;D&rdquo; rating in the Portfolio Grader.



<h2>Ford Motor Co. (F)</h2>



<div><img width="300" height="169" src="https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ford1600-300x169.jpg" alt="Ford logo badge on grill of car"><div>Source: JuliusKielaitis / Shutterstock.com</div></div>Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/f-stock-quote/">F</a>) is one of the best-known brands in the world. As an automaker, Ford makes the F-150 pickup, the Explorer SUV and the sporty Mustang. It&rsquo;s one of the Big Three Detroit automakers.



It&rsquo;s been a challenge in recent months, however. Competition is always fierce, and Tesla&rsquo;s move to lower its EV prices <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/02/20/ford-mustang-mach-e-electric-cars-evs-price-drop/">has a ripple effect for other automakers that Ford can&rsquo;t ignore</a>. 



Ford also was one of three automakers that experienced a strike last year, and was forced to make significant wage concessions to get union members back on the job.



Ford saw an 81% jump in its EV sales in February, and overall sales increase by <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2024/04/03/ford-sales-first-quarter-hybrid/73137481007/">6.8% in the first quarter</a>. It remains to be seen how the company&rsquo;s profit margins will hold, however, and how investors will react when it reports first-quarter earnings on April 24.



F stock is down 1% in 2024 and gets a &ldquo;D&rdquo; rating in the Portfolio Grader.



<h2>Boeing (BA)</h2>



<div><img width="300" height="169" src="https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ba-stock-4-300x169.jpg" alt="Image of Boeing (BA) airplane in a hanger."><div>Source: Alex JW Robinson / Shutterstock.com</div></div>Boeing (NYSE:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/ba-stock-quote/">BA</a>) is a nightmare stock to own right now. The aerospace and defense contractor is under serious pressure as a series of problems with its aircraft left investors reeling.



First, a rear door plug flew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 passenger jet in mid-flight. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 jets for inspection, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/08/1223517098/door-plug-boeing-737-max-portland-ntsb-faa">two airlines</a> reported finding loose screws on their aircraft.



The FAA allowed the Max 9 to resume flying a few weeks later, but <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/27/1227278489/boeing-737-max-9-alaska-united-airlines-resumes-flying">many passengers remain reluctant</a>. The <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1235826355/faa-audit-boeing-737-max-8-9-quality-control-failures">FAA</a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1236277058/boeing-737-max-9-alaska-airlines-door-plug-removed-ntsb-commerce-cantwell-cruz">National Transportation Safety Board</a> both issued critical reports of Boeing as well.



So unsurprisingly, Boeing stock is one of the worst performers of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2024, down 34%.



It&rsquo;s going to be a rough period for Boeing in 2024 and there&rsquo;s no need to try to catch a falling knife. BA stock has an &ldquo;F&rdquo; rating in the Portfolio Grader.



<h2>Starbucks (SBUX)</h2>



<div><img width="300" height="169" src="https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/sbux1600a-300x169.jpg" alt="the Starbucks (SBUX) logo on a sign outside of a coffee shop"><div>Source: Grand Warszawski / Shutterstock.com</div></div>Starbucks (NASDAQ:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/sbux-stock-quote/">SBUX</a>) grew mightily from its roots in Seattle to be a dominant brand around the world. Starbucks has more than 39,000 locations, with plans to increase that to 55,000 by the end of the decade.



However, the stock is trading near its 52-week lows as customer traffic fell in the U.S. and China. Embattled Luckin Coffee (OTCMTKS:<a href="https://investorplace.com/stock-quotes/lkncy-stock-quote/">LKNCY</a>) <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/hospitality/how-starbucks-lost-the-top-spot-in-chinas-coffee-race-b6b36353">surpassed Starbucks as China&rsquo;s No. 1 coffeehouse</a> with an aggressive expansion and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/12/how-luckin-coffee-overtook-starbucks-in-china.html">pricing plan</a> that undercuts Starbucks.



Starbucks saw its <a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/869488222/files/doc_financials/2024/q1/1Q24-Earnings-Release-Final-1-30-24.pdf">international store count</a> and international revenue grow by 10% in 2023 &ndash; but operating margins slipped, and the company&rsquo;s operating income remained flat for the year despite the expansion.



The company will need to find a way to turn its fortunes in China around without shaving off too much in margin and profitability. SBUX stock is down 10% in 2024 and gets an &ldquo;F&rdquo; rating in the Portfolio Grader.



On the date of publication, Louis&nbsp;Navellier did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article held AAPL, but did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
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Block: Building Momentum

AAPL

ADBE

ADYEY

ASHTF

ASHTY

BFAM

BNTGF

BNTGY

BRLAF

BTLCY

BUZZ

BVHMF

BVHMY

CAPMF

CFRHF

CFRUY

CGEMY

CSCO

FTCHF

GOOG

GOOGL

HLICF

HWDJF

HWDJY

INTC

KVUE

LKNCY

LRGE

MSFT

NFLX

NNRHF

NTDOF

NTDOY

NVDA

PANW

SAPGF

SBUX

SOFI

SSNLF

TEAM

TLSA

TSLA

UNLYF

VWDRY

VWSYF

WDAY

Press Releases

PayPal Names Amy Bonitatibus as Chief Corporate Affairs and Communications Officer

Fintech

Tap to Pay on iPhone Now Available for Venmo and PayPal Zettle Businesses in the U.S.

PayPal Names Aaron J. Webster as Executive Vice President, Chief Enterprise Services Officer

Fintech Market Size Projected To Grow To $882 Billion By 2030 as Advanced Technologies & Services Expand

Opinion

Thinking about trading options or stock in Advanced Micro Devices, Super Micro Computer, Imax, PayPal, or SentinelOne?

Thinking about trading options or stock in Micron Technology, Apple, PayPal, Super Micro Computer, or GigaCloud Technology?

PayPal Plans to Appoint Carmine Di Sibio to Board of Directors

Xoom Enables PayPal USD as a Funding Option for Cross-Border Money Transfers

Contracts

DMG Blockchain Solutions Announces Collaboration with PayPal to Decarbonize the Bitcoin Blockchain