Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Holdings in eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY)

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its stake in eBay by 12.5%, reducing its holdings to 22,376 shares valued at approximately $1.5 million.
• Insider selling at eBay was notable, with two senior vice presidents selling a combined total of 95,880 shares in recent weeks, indicating potential bearish sentiment among company insiders.
• eBay recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.29 per share, representing an annual yield of 1.2%, with a payout ratio of 25.55%.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,376 shares of the e-commerce company's stock after selling 3,184 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in eBay were worth $1,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in shares of eBay in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $723,000. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new position in shares of eBay in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,712,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of eBay by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 166,953 shares of the e-commerce company's stock worth $11,308,000 after acquiring an additional 49,096 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of eBay by 19.6% in the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,618 shares of the e-commerce company's stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of eBay by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 8,867 shares of the e-commerce company's stock worth $601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at eBay

In other eBay news, SVP Cornelius Boone sold 2,985 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total transaction of $234,829.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 92,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,241,809.51. This trade represents a 3.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Julie A. Loeger sold 92,895 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $6,694,013.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 123,282 shares in the company, valued at $8,883,700.92. The trade was a 42.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 276,104 shares of company stock valued at $22,025,676. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on EBAY shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of eBay from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up from $77.00) on shares of eBay in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of eBay from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday. UBS Group set a $87.00 price objective on shares of eBay in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of eBay from $80.00 to $79.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, eBay presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.19.

eBay Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ EBAY opened at $93.14 on Friday. eBay Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.80 and a 12 month high of $93.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $42.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $79.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.67.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The e-commerce company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.07. eBay had a net margin of 20.86% and a return on equity of 38.97%. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. eBay's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that eBay Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

eBay Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. eBay's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.55%.

eBay Profile

eBay Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates marketplace platforms that connect buyers and sellers in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, and internationally. The company's marketplace platform includes its online marketplace at ebay.com, off-platform businesses, and the eBay suite of mobile apps.

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