StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the game software company’s stock.

EA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $155.00 to $138.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. TheStreet lowered shares of Electronic Arts from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $164.00 to $139.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $154.00 to $150.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $145.00 to $125.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $135.54.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of Electronic Arts stock opened at $113.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $31.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.04. Electronic Arts has a fifty-two week low of $108.53 and a fifty-two week high of $142.79.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The game software company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.62 by ($1.89). The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Electronic Arts had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 14.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Electronic Arts will post 4.44 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, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Electronic Arts news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.84, for a total transaction of $604,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,304,510.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Electronic Arts news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.84, for a total transaction of $604,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,304,510.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.78, for a total transaction of $93,424.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 25,355 shares in the company, valued at $2,960,956.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,626,881 in the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Electronic Arts by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,645 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in Electronic Arts by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,820 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in Electronic Arts by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 5,673 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems increased its position in Electronic Arts by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 20,767 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its position in Electronic Arts by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,248 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $641,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. 89.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Electronic Arts

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Electronic Arts, Inc develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games, content, and services for game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets worldwide. The company develops and publishes games and services across various genres, such as sports, first-person shooter, action, role-playing, and simulation primarily under the Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends, Anthem, Need for Speed, and Plants v.