Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Raises Stake in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its stake in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 2.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 39,594 shares of the game software company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Electronic Arts were worth $6,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Electronic Arts by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,052,085 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $4,198,607,000 after buying an additional 150,438 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,355,950 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $695,645,000 after acquiring an additional 193,442 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 3,945,702 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $570,233,000 after acquiring an additional 88,767 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,733,481 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $539,563,000 after acquiring an additional 504,760 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 62.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,253,505 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $470,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254,194 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. DZ Bank downgraded Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Argus set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC downgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $191.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Electronic Arts from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Cowen cut shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.64.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EA opened at $201.06 on Friday. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.21 and a 1-year high of $203.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.74. The firm has a market cap of $50.15 billion, a PE ratio of 58.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The game software company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.07). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The business had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Electronic Arts news, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.40, for a total transaction of $1,322,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,045,476. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.31, for a total value of $240,372.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,476,222.61. The trade was a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 38,200 shares of company stock worth $7,149,882 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.24% 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.