Legal & General Group Plc Sells 438,228 Shares of eBay Inc. $EBAY

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its eBay stake by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 438,228 shares and leaving it with 4.82 million shares valued at about $420.3 million.
• Analyst sentiment on eBay remains mixed: the stock has a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $107.90, though several firms recently raised targets and one, Benchmark, maintained a buy rating.
• eBay posted a strong quarter, beating earnings and revenue estimates with EPS of $1.66 and revenue of $3.09 billion, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share.

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY - Free Report) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,824,963 shares of the e-commerce company's stock after selling 438,228 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.07% of eBay worth $420,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in eBay during the 4th quarter worth about $1,209,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in eBay by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 10,353 shares of the e-commerce company's stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in eBay by 80.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 8,212 shares of the e-commerce company's stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 3,668 shares during the last quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in eBay during the 4th quarter worth about $695,000. Finally, Aspen Investment Management Inc bought a new stake in eBay during the 4th quarter worth about $531,000. Institutional investors own 87.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on EBAY shares. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of eBay from $97.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of eBay from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Arete Research upped their target price on shares of eBay from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of eBay from $120.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of eBay from $105.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.90.

eBay Stock Performance

eBay stock opened at $115.75 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. eBay Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.53 and a 1 year high of $119.31. The company has a market cap of $51.39 billion, a PE ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.39. The company's 50-day moving average is $101.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.88.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. eBay had a net margin of 17.58% and a return on equity of 46.11%. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. The company's revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. eBay has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.090-1.140 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that eBay Inc. will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

eBay Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. eBay's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Cornelius Boone sold 16,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.44, for a total value of $1,542,361.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 94,479 shares in the company, valued at $8,733,638.76. This trade represents a 15.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Mazen Rawashdeh sold 23,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.59, for a total transaction of $2,168,199.53. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 28,915 shares in the company, valued at $2,706,154.85. This represents a 44.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 86,953 shares of company stock valued at $8,287,444. Insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

About eBay

eBay Inc is a global e-commerce company that operates an online marketplace connecting individual consumers and businesses for the sale and purchase of new, used and collectible goods. Founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar and headquartered in San Jose, California, eBay grew from its early auction-style site into a diversified platform offering both auction-format listings and fixed-price "Buy It Now" transactions. The company completed an initial public offering in the late 1990s and has since evolved its platform and services to support a broad range of product categories and buyer preferences.

The company's core business centers on its marketplace platform, which provides listing, search and transaction capabilities for millions of items across consumer goods, electronics, fashion, collectibles and more.

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