Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Stock Holdings in eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) by 8.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 272,067 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,489 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in eBay were worth $18,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of eBay by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 8,121 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 2,110 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of eBay during the 4th quarter valued at $8,644,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of eBay by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 4,150 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of eBay by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 50,904 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock valued at $3,154,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of eBay during the 4th quarter valued at $40,805,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other eBay news, CEO Jamie Iannone sold 12,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.06, for a total value of $999,634.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 325,053 shares in the company, valued at $25,698,690.18. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen J. Priest sold 1,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.21, for a total transaction of $77,267.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,946.80. The trade was a 1.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 315,918 shares of company stock worth $22,432,706 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EBAY. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of eBay from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of eBay from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of eBay from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of eBay from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of eBay from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, eBay presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.73.

eBay Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EBAY opened at $73.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.27. eBay Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.03 and a 12 month high of $79.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $72.49 and its 200 day moving average is $68.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The e-commerce company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. eBay had a net margin of 19.78% and a return on equity of 36.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. Research analysts predict that eBay Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

eBay Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. eBay’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.62%.

About eBay

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.