Investors Purchase High Volume of Electronic Arts Call Options (NASDAQ:EA)

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 18,500 call options on the company. This is an increase of 295% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,683 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $154.00 price objective on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup cut shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $148.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Electronic Arts from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Electronic Arts from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.75.

Electronic Arts Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EA traded up $3.64 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $152.76. The stock had a trading volume of 2,642,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,166,047. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $139.29 and its 200-day moving average is $135.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.79. Electronic Arts has a 1 year low of $117.47 and a 1 year high of $153.51.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The game software company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. Electronic Arts had a net margin of 16.83% and a return on equity of 18.81%. Research analysts predict that Electronic Arts will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th will be issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Electronic Arts news, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $435,000.00. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,095,185. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.88, for a total value of $106,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,374 shares in the company, valued at $5,232,017.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,239 shares of company stock valued at $3,197,469 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Electronic Arts

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Electronic Arts by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,159,718 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $3,868,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,727,251 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Electronic Arts by 16.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,901,257 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $782,920,000 after purchasing an additional 833,492 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Electronic Arts by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,283,539 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $596,825,000 after acquiring an additional 53,237 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,428,193 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $469,011,000 after purchasing an additional 145,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 496.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,511,250 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $333,169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,090,504 shares during the last quarter. 90.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.