Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirty-one ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty-six have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $181.2083.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EA. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Electronic Arts from $166.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Baird R W cut Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Argus set a $210.00 price objective on Electronic Arts in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $148.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th.

Insider Activity

In other Electronic Arts news, insider Laura Miele sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.11, for a total value of $510,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 53,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,848,038.28. This represents a 4.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.11, for a total value of $244,932.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 33,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,849,931.60. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 122,469 shares of company stock worth $24,650,681. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Electronic Arts during the fourth quarter valued at about $242,000. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Electronic Arts by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 8,361 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after buying an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Electronic Arts by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,863 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $5,283,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,767 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 227,893 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $46,554,000 after acquiring an additional 57,268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

NASDAQ EA opened at $204.10 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $202.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.16. Electronic Arts has a 52 week low of $115.21 and a 52 week high of $204.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.68, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.73.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The game software company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.07). Electronic Arts had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 12.14%.The business had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Electronic Arts will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio is 22.22%.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: EA) is a global interactive entertainment company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, EA develops, publishes and distributes video games and related content for a variety of platforms, including consoles, personal computers and mobile devices. The company combines in-house development, partnerships and studio acquisitions to create and maintain a portfolio of entertainment properties and live-service experiences for players worldwide.

EA’s product lineup spans several well-known franchises and genres.