Electronic Arts Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:EA)

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 37,868 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 352% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,382 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $167.00 to $159.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. BNP Paribas lowered Electronic Arts from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark decreased their target price on Electronic Arts from $163.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Raymond James lowered Electronic Arts from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on Electronic Arts in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Electronic Arts has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.00, for a total transaction of $740,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 47,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,047,020. This trade represents a 9.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.57, for a total transaction of $147,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,216 shares in the company, valued at $4,311,405.12. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,000 shares of company stock worth $3,194,240 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EA. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 353.4% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,269,258 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $185,692,000 after purchasing an additional 989,319 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 224.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,207,854 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $176,709,000 after purchasing an additional 835,985 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 130.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,201,353 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $175,758,000 after buying an additional 679,032 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Electronic Arts during the fourth quarter worth about $96,698,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,156,791 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $1,778,553,000 after buying an additional 605,796 shares in the last quarter. 90.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Electronic Arts Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of EA traded up $4.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $142.90. The company had a trading volume of 4,510,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,389,224. Electronic Arts has a 1-year low of $115.21 and a 1-year high of $168.50. The stock has a market cap of $37.24 billion, a PE ratio of 36.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The game software company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by ($1.07). Electronic Arts had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 14.28%. Research analysts forecast that Electronic Arts will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is 19.34%.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games, content, and services for game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets worldwide. It develops and publishes games and services across various genres, such as sports, racing, first-person shooter, action, role-playing, and simulation primarily under the Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends, Need for Speed, and license games from others, including FIFA, Madden NFL, UFC, and Star Wars brands.