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

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

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Electronic Arts from $146.00 to $143.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and issued a $153.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Electronic Arts from $160.00 to $154.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $147.50.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of EA opened at $139.33 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Electronic Arts has a 12 month low of $117.47 and a 12 month high of $144.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $132.71 and its 200-day moving average is $134.91. The firm has a market cap of $37.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.80.

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

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 29th. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Eric Charles Kelly sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.75, for a total value of $401,250.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,507.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Eric Charles Kelly sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.75, for a total value of $401,250.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,507.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.82, for a total transaction of $106,256.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,597,164.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,039 shares of company stock worth $3,325,484. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Electronic Arts in the 3rd quarter valued at $227,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Electronic Arts by 10.4% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 84,602 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $10,191,000 after purchasing an additional 7,989 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Electronic Arts by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 48,566 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $5,847,000 after purchasing an additional 8,674 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Electronic Arts by 31.4% during 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 during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Electronic Arts by 0.5% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

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.