PayPal Holdings (PYPL) shares climbed roughly 5% on Friday, trading at $55.13, as fresh takeover speculation swirled around the payments company. Friday's rally built on acquisition interest that has surrounded the company throughout the year.

Traders pointed to a Betaville “uncooked” alert circulating Friday morning, which suggested that a U.S. technology company based on the West Coast could be weighing an all-stock takeover of PayPal. The “uncooked” tag is Betaville's designation for early-stage, unverified deal chatter, and no formal offer has been made public. An all-stock structure would also differ from what PayPal's board reportedly wants: sources say the board prefers an all-cash transaction over a stock swap. The distinction matters for holders — a cash offer locks in a fixed price per share, while a stock swap leaves the final payout tied to the acquirer's share price at closing.

This is not the first takeover interest PayPal has attracted this year. Payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent had been in discussions to buy the company outright. Those talks reportedly hit a snag over a $2 billion break fee, with neither side able to agree on who would owe the payment if the deal collapsed. Break fees are a common feature of large merger agreements — a negotiated payment meant to cover the costs of a failed deal. The Stripe-Advent consortium had weighed paying up to $68 per share in cash — a level that would have valued PayPal at more than $50 billion. Last month, the group reportedly abandoned the pursuit entirely, leaving PayPal still searching for a suitor.

PayPal did not respond to requests for comment on the latest speculation, according to Benzinga.

A $90 Billion Pitch for Meta to Buy PayPal

Separately, Great Hill Capital Chairman Thomas Hayes floated his own idea this week: that Meta Platforms (META), the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, should be the one to buy PayPal. Hayes pitched a price tag of $90 billion, which he said works out to roughly a 7% free-cash-flow yield — a measure of annual free cash flow against the purchase price — calling the combination accretive whether Meta paid in cash, stock, or some mix of both.

His reasoning centers on data. Hayes argued that pairing PayPal's transaction data with Meta's advertising business could build advertising capabilities on par with Amazon (AMZN), and he estimated a three-to-four-year payback window on the $90 billion price. Hayes framed the proposal as him thinking out loud as a shareholder, not as insider knowledge of any deal.

Where the Stock Stands Technically

PYPL is trading about 3% above its 20-day moving average of $53.45 but roughly 3% below its 50-day average of $56.79, placing the stock in what chart watchers call a decision zone. The longer-term picture looks steadier: shares sit roughly 8% above the 100-day average and 9% above the 200-day average.

Momentum indicators are similarly balanced. The relative strength index (RSI) reads 50.75, a neutral level that is neither overbought nor oversold. The moving averages tell a mixed story: the 20-day average remains below the 50-day average, a bearish short-term signal, but the 50-day average holds above the 200-day average following August's golden cross — a pattern in which a shorter-term average crosses above a longer-term one, typically viewed as a bullish longer-term setup.

Traders are watching whether PYPL can reclaim the 50-day level and hold it, which would turn Friday's bounce into something more durable. Key resistance sits at $59.50, a ceiling tied to a recent stall zone, while key support lies at $52, near where the 20-day and 200-day averages converge.

Separately, Deutsche Bank raised its price target on PayPal to $55 from $50 on Friday while keeping its Hold rating unchanged — putting the new target essentially in line with where shares changed hands Friday.

PayPal shares were up 4.80% to $55.13 at the time of publication on Friday.

This article originally appeared on CoinCentral.