Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 122,583 Shares of eBay Inc. $EBAY

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group reduced its eBay stake by 13.1%, selling 122,583 shares and retaining 811,882 shares valued at approximately $86.1 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 87.48% of eBay.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: eBay has an average “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $123.36, with 16 Buy, 16 Hold, and 3 Sell ratings.
• eBay reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.51 and revenue of $3.21 billion, while the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share, yielding about 1.0% annually.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY - Free Report) by 13.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 811,882 shares of the e-commerce company's stock after selling 122,583 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.18% of eBay worth $86,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in eBay during the 2nd quarter worth $4,406,897,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in eBay by 1.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,901,415 shares of the e-commerce company's stock valued at $446,042,000 after purchasing an additional 80,450 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in eBay in the second quarter valued at $506,653,000. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of eBay by 26.4% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,014,323 shares of the e-commerce company's stock valued at $448,601,000 after buying an additional 838,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of eBay by 0.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,722,253 shares of the e-commerce company's stock valued at $338,799,000 after buying an additional 30,761 shares during the last quarter. 87.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EBAY. Robert W. Baird set a $135.00 target price on shares of eBay in a research note on Thursday. BTIG Research began coverage on eBay in a research report on Thursday. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on eBay from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut eBay to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Arete Research lowered their target price on eBay from $113.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, eBay presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.36.

eBay Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of eBay stock opened at $120.93 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $53.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $111.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. eBay Inc. has a one year low of $78.03 and a one year high of $124.59.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The e-commerce company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. eBay had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 48.79%. The business's revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that eBay Inc. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current year.

eBay Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. eBay's payout ratio is currently 27.07%.

Insider Activity at eBay

In other eBay news, SVP Jordan Sweetnam sold 1,014 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.39, for a total transaction of $102,809.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 35,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,604,008.94. The trade was a 2.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jamie Iannone sold 11,110 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.55, for a total value of $1,205,990.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 253,211 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,486,054.05. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 34,344 shares of company stock worth $3,635,567 in the last quarter. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

eBay Company Profile

eBay Inc operates a global online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers. Through its platform, individuals, small businesses and larger retailers can list and purchase new, used and refurbished merchandise across categories such as electronics, apparel, collectibles, automotive parts and accessories, home goods and industrial products. Transactions may take place through auctions or fixed-price listings, with payments, shipping and other seller and buyer services supporting the marketplace experience.

Founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb by Pierre Omidyar, eBay has grown from an online auction site into a broad e-commerce platform.

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