Ninety One UK Ltd Trims Stake in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA)

Ninety One UK Ltd reduced its position in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,077,711 shares of the game software company’s stock after selling 7,115 shares during the quarter. Electronic Arts accounts for about 1.7% of Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Ninety One UK Ltd owned approximately 1.52% of Electronic Arts worth $557,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bray Capital Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bray Capital Advisors now owns 220 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 269.1% in the 4th quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 212,585 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 154,989 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 228 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 70.1% in the 2nd quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 262 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. 90.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $162.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Electronic Arts in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Electronic Arts from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $153.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Electronic Arts from $146.00 to $143.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Electronic Arts presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.00.

Insider Activity at Electronic Arts

In related news, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.43, for a total transaction of $109,944.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 28,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,941,904.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Electronic Arts news, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.43, for a total value of $109,944.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 28,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,941,904.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.24, for a total value of $143,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,901,755.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,144 shares of company stock valued at $5,143,560 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of EA traded down $1.05 on Thursday, reaching $125.26. The stock had a trading volume of 382,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,030,254. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.31. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 12-month low of $117.47 and a 12-month high of $144.53.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The game software company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.38). The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Electronic Arts had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.14%.

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.