Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Benchmark

Benchmark reiterated their buy rating on shares of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $153.00 target price on the game software company’s stock.

EA has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $146.00 to $143.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. They set an outperform rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $162.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $147.00.

Electronic Arts Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ EA opened at $125.63 on Thursday. Electronic Arts has a 12 month low of $117.47 and a 12 month high of $144.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company has a market capitalization of $33.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $135.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.25.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Electronic Arts will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is 19.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,941,904.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,941,904.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.24, for a total transaction of $143,240.00. Following the transaction, the insider now 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,144 shares of company stock worth $5,143,560. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 16.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,636,385 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $3,086,621,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600,388 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Electronic Arts by 2.2% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,912,701 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $1,555,333,000 after purchasing an additional 272,146 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Electronic Arts by 0.9% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,808,956 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $698,212,000 after purchasing an additional 52,736 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Electronic Arts by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,067,765 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $693,318,000 after purchasing an additional 386,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Electronic Arts by 7.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,156,556 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $500,449,000 after purchasing an additional 301,194 shares in the last quarter. 90.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Electronic Arts Company Profile

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.