eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) Upgraded at Arete Research

Arete Research upgraded shares of eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of eBay in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of eBay from $66.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of eBay from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of eBay from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of eBay from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.19.

eBay Stock Up 0.1%

eBay stock opened at $93.14 on Thursday. eBay has a fifty-two week low of $54.80 and a fifty-two week high of $93.50. The stock has a market cap of $42.56 billion, a PE ratio of 20.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The e-commerce company reported $1.37 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that eBay will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

eBay Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. eBay’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.55%.

Insider Activity at eBay

In other news, CEO Jamie Iannone sold 12,644 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.02, for a total value of $961,196.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 317,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,145,852.50. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Cornelius Boone sold 2,985 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total transaction of $234,829.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 92,053 shares in the company, valued at $7,241,809.51. The trade was a 3.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 276,104 shares of company stock worth $22,025,676 over the last quarter. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On eBay

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EBAY. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of eBay by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,742 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of eBay by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,666 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of eBay by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,280 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of eBay by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 23,039 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $1,560,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of eBay by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,566 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.48% of the company’s stock.

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.