Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) Shares Acquired by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,620 shares of the game software company’s stock after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Electronic Arts were worth $1,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FORA Capital LLC raised its stake in Electronic Arts by 209.7% during the first quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 45,985 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $6,101,000 after purchasing an additional 31,136 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in Electronic Arts by 82.6% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 25,074 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $3,327,000 after purchasing an additional 11,343 shares during the period. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC purchased a new position in Electronic Arts during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,259,000. Value Partners Investments Inc. raised its stake in Electronic Arts by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 429,536 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $53,761,000 after purchasing an additional 107,709 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Electronic Arts by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 181,757 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $24,866,000 after purchasing an additional 10,405 shares during the period. 90.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Electronic Arts

In related news, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 3,000 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $435,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,095,185. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 3,000 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $435,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,095,185. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.64, for a total transaction of $101,312.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,283 shares in the company, valued at $3,328,479.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 26,039 shares of company stock worth $3,500,356. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Roth Mkm cut their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Electronic Arts from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Electronic Arts presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.53.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of Electronic Arts stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $145.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,102,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,105,091. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.01. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $117.47 and a one year high of $147.41. The stock has a market cap of $38.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.79.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The game software company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.17). Electronic Arts had a return on equity of 18.81% and a net margin of 16.83%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 5.68 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is currently 16.24%.

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.