PayPal Stock Has Fallen 14% Since Earnings. Three Executives Made Sales.

Shares of PayPal Holdings have lagged behind the broader market as investors question its competitive advantage over rivals like Block. (Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

Key Points

• PayPal’s chief accounting officer, Chris Natali, sold 1,374 shares for nearly $95,000 on October 30.
• Suzan Kereere, president of global markets, sold 12,500 shares for a total of $860,900 on November 3.
• PayPal shares have declined 26% this year, while the S&P 500 index gained more than 14% over the same period.

Shares of PayPal Holdings have tumbled this year as the company contends with investors’ lofty expectations. In the weeks following PayPal’s latest earnings report, several executives have sold stock.

A Form 4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 31 shows Chris Natali, PayPal’s chief accounting officer, sold 1,374 shares for $69.13 apiece, or a total of nearly $95,000, the day prior. Following the sale, Natali owned no other shares directly, according to the form.

Just days later on Nov. 3, Suzan Kereere, the fintech’s president of global markets, made two transactions, according to a separate securities filing. Keerere sold 10,000 shares for an average price of $68.85 each, followed by another sale of 2,500 shares for $68.96 each, or a total of $860,900.

The sales brought Kereere’s direct holdings to 30,983 company shares, which were valued at $1.9 million based on Friday’s closing price of $62.81.

Another filing shows that Aaron Webster, PayPal’s global chief risk officer, made three sales on Nov. 10, which came to a total of 9,282 shares of company stock for around $615,309. Webster’s direct holdings after the sale came to 35,699 shares, which were valued at more than $2.2 million as of Friday.

PayPal declined to comment on the transactions.

Shares of the fintech have slumped 26% this year. The benchmark S&P 500 index has gained more than 14% over the same period. Since posting third-quarter earnings on Oct. 28, shares have declined 14%.

The levels the stock trades at today pale in comparison to the heights it reached in 2021. PayPal hit a record closing high of $308.53 on July 23 of that year and notched an intraday record of $310.16 on July 26, 2021.

Since assuming the role of the company’s top executive in 2023, CEO Alex Chriss has overseen a turnaround strategy that involves returning PayPal’s unbranded businesses to profitable growth.

However, PayPal’s struggles have persisted even in the face of a string of solid earnings reports, as investors continue to question the company’s competitive advantage over its peers. Analysts have signaled they are waiting for a meaningful improvement in key metrics like online branded growth.

It seems the fintech industry is a mixed bag. Peers Affirm Holdings and Block have gained 16% and slumped 29%, respectively, this year.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com