Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) Receives $196.64 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $196.6429.

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Electronic Arts from $202.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th.

Insider Activity

In other Electronic Arts news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total transaction of $1,002,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 18,858 shares in the company, valued at $3,781,783.32. This represents a 20.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Laura Miele sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total value of $501,350.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 40,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,190,655.22. This represents a 5.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,100 shares of company stock worth $5,252,250. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pentwater Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 128.1% during the 4th quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 10,950,000 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $2,237,414,000 after buying an additional 6,150,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter worth about $643,674,000. HBK Investments L P acquired a new position in Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter worth about $390,267,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Electronic Arts by 44.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,217,029 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $673,393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter worth about $165,153,000. Institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EA opened at $201.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s 50 day moving average is $201.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $202.22. The company has a market cap of $50.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.66. Electronic Arts has a 12 month low of $141.19 and a 12 month high of $204.88.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is currently 21.78%.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: EA) is a global interactive entertainment company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, EA develops, publishes and distributes video games and related content for a variety of platforms, including consoles, personal computers and mobile devices. The company combines in-house development, partnerships and studio acquisitions to create and maintain a portfolio of entertainment properties and live-service experiences for players worldwide.

EA’s product lineup spans several well-known franchises and genres.