Balentine LLC Sells 2,095 Shares of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY)

Balentine LLC trimmed its stake in eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) by 29.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,982 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock after selling 2,095 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in eBay were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBAY. MGO One Seven LLC grew its stake in eBay by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 7,942 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 1,142 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in eBay by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230,955 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $10,183,000 after buying an additional 13,270 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in eBay by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,769 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new stake in eBay during the 3rd quarter valued at about $257,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in eBay during the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,000. 87.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on EBAY. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on eBay from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on eBay from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho upped their target price on eBay from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of eBay in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on eBay from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.45.

eBay Price Performance

EBAY stock opened at $52.81 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $51.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $26.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.31. eBay Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.17 and a 52-week high of $53.03.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The e-commerce company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.53 billion. eBay had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 25.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that eBay Inc. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

eBay Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. eBay’s payout ratio is presently 21.51%.

eBay declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 27th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the e-commerce company to repurchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Marie Oh Huber sold 49,070 shares of eBay stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.63, for a total value of $2,435,344.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 177,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,803,915.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.