Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $10.01 Million Stock Holdings in eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its position in eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 229,406 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock after selling 8,796 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in eBay were worth $10,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EBAY. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of eBay during the fourth quarter worth $5,114,000. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of eBay during the fourth quarter worth $380,000. abrdn plc raised its holdings in shares of eBay by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 225,424 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $9,833,000 after acquiring an additional 91,006 shares during the period. Cambridge Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of eBay by 135.0% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 1,175 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of eBay by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,270,059 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $142,640,000 after acquiring an additional 22,959 shares during the period. 87.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of eBay from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of eBay from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of eBay from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of eBay from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of eBay from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, eBay presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Edward O. Garcia sold 1,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value of $50,129.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,372,140.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

eBay Stock Performance

Shares of EBAY opened at $51.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 2.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.58 and a 200-day moving average of $44.38. eBay Inc. has a one year low of $37.17 and a one year high of $52.93.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The e-commerce company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. eBay had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 29.16%. eBay’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that eBay Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

eBay Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from eBay’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. eBay’s payout ratio is 20.69%.

eBay declared that its board has initiated a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

eBay Company 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.