Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $1.20 Million Investment in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,500 shares of the game software company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,198,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the second quarter worth $214,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 34.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 40,483 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after buying an additional 10,453 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $319,000. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Electronic Arts by 5.7% during the second quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 278,069 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $44,408,000 after buying an additional 15,032 shares during the period. Finally, Alta Advisers Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Electronic Arts during the 2nd quarter worth about $205,000. Institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Electronic Arts

In other Electronic Arts news, insider Laura Miele sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.79, for a total transaction of $504,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 53,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,713,434.68. This trade represents a 4.50% 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, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 5,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,045,476. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 137,369 shares of company stock valued at $27,307,702. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on EA shares. DZ Bank cut Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Arete raised shares of Electronic Arts from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $192.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $148.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Cowen lowered Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $181.64.

Electronic Arts Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of EA stock opened at $201.92 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $197.15 and a 200 day moving average of $171.67. Electronic Arts Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.21 and a twelve month high of $203.75. The stock has a market cap of $50.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

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

Electronic Arts 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.