Provident Living Financial Services Inc. Acquires Shares of 15,856 Etsy Inc $ETSY

Provident Living Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Etsy Inc (NYSE:ETSY) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 15,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $879,000. Etsy makes up about 0.8% of Provident Living Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Etsy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in Etsy by 12,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Etsy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Etsy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Etsy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $86,000. 99.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Etsy Stock Performance

Shares of Etsy stock opened at $54.06 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.77. Etsy Inc has a fifty-two week low of $40.05 and a fifty-two week high of $76.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $52.09.

Etsy (NYSE:ETSY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $881.64 million during the quarter. Etsy had a negative return on equity of 24.94% and a net margin of 5.65%.

Etsy declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 18th that allows the company to repurchase $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 14.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Etsy news, Director Charles Andrew Ballard sold 1,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.74, for a total value of $99,774.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $223,294.44. This trade represents a 30.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Merilee Buckley sold 1,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.92, for a total transaction of $105,469.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 809 shares in the company, valued at $42,812.28. This represents a 71.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 43,971 shares of company stock valued at $2,326,623 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ETSY shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Etsy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Etsy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Etsy from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Etsy from $74.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Etsy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Etsy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.80.

About Etsy

Etsy, Inc operates two-sided online marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, France, and India. Its primary marketplace is Etsy.com that connects artisans and entrepreneurs with various consumers. The company also offers Reverb, a musical instrument marketplace; Depop, a fashion resale marketplace; and Elo7, a Brazil-based marketplace for handmade and unique items. In addition, it offers various seller services, including Etsy Payments, a payment processing service; Etsy Ads, an advertising platform; and Shipping Labels, which allows sellers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and India to purchase discounted shipping labels.