eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) Short Interest Down 6.3% in March

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,090,000 shares, a decline of 6.3% from the March 15th total of 19,310,000 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,740,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EBAY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of eBay from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of eBay from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of eBay from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of eBay from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of eBay from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.21.

eBay Price Performance

Shares of EBAY stock traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 906,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,449,543. eBay has a 1-year low of $37.17 and a 1-year high of $52.93. The company has a market cap of $25.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a current ratio of 2.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $48.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.12.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The e-commerce company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.04. eBay had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 29.16%. The company had revenue of $2.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that eBay will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

eBay announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 27th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the e-commerce company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

eBay Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 2.16%. eBay’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.69%.

Insider Activity at eBay

In other eBay 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,372,140.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On eBay

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in eBay by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 48,038,931 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $2,131,487,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,766 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in eBay by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,068,197 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $1,023,530,000 after acquiring an additional 122,838 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in eBay by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,418,131 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $547,516,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534,030 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in eBay by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,666,600 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $516,516,000 after acquiring an additional 74,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in eBay by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 11,167,875 shares of the e-commerce company’s stock worth $495,407,000 after acquiring an additional 289,071 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.48% of the company’s stock.

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.