Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday.

EA has been the topic of several other research reports. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group decreased their target price on Electronic Arts from $146.00 to $143.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Benchmark reissued a buy rating and set a $153.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $162.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Electronic Arts currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $147.50.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

NASDAQ EA opened at $139.33 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $132.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. Electronic Arts has a fifty-two week low of $117.47 and a fifty-two week high of $144.53.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The game software company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.17). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 16.83% and a return on equity of 18.81%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Electronic Arts will post 5.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.26, for a total transaction of $350,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,660,634.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Electronic Arts news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.26, for a total transaction of $350,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,660,634.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.01, for a total value of $211,515.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,488,078.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,039 shares of company stock worth $3,325,484 in the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EA. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 84,602 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $10,191,000 after purchasing an additional 7,989 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 48,566 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $5,847,000 after purchasing an additional 8,674 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,563 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 120,384 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $14,494,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. 90.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.