Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $154.55.

EA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Electronic Arts from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Electronic Arts from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 47,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,047,020. This represents a 9.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.11, for a total transaction of $130,110.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,238,126.76. The trade was a 9.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,500 shares of company stock worth $3,593,095 over the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 353.4% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,269,258 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $185,692,000 after acquiring an additional 989,319 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised 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 valued at $176,709,000 after purchasing an additional 835,985 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in 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 valued at $175,758,000 after purchasing an additional 679,032 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter worth $96,698,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 5.2% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of EA stock opened at $131.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $136.18 and its 200 day moving average is $146.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.52, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. Electronic Arts has a 12 month low of $115.21 and a 12 month high of $168.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The game software company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.41 by ($1.07). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 14.28% and a return on equity of 17.80%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Electronic Arts will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is 19.34%.

Electronic Arts Company Profile

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.