Legal & General Group Plc Purchases New Position in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,837,027 shares of the game software company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,664,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Electronic Arts during the second quarter valued at $5,125,838,000. Pentwater Capital Management LP grew its holdings in 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 valued at $2,237,414,000 after purchasing an additional 6,150,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter worth about $643,674,000. HBK Investments L P purchased a new stake in Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter worth about $390,267,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Electronic Arts in the second quarter worth about $269,846,000. 90.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Electronic Arts news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.12, for a total value of $1,015,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 80,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,447,438.88. This trade represents a 5.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Laura Miele sold 2,500 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.10, for a total transaction of $507,750.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 73,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,930,490.30. The trade was a 3.29% 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. Insiders sold 8,700 shares of company stock worth $1,766,950 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Electronic Arts stock opened at $209.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $52.93 billion, a PE ratio of 49.23 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $207.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $203.71. Electronic Arts Inc. has a one year low of $159.10 and a one year high of $210.20.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The game software company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter. Electronic Arts had a return on equity of 22.45% and a net margin of 13.80%.The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Electronic Arts from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on Electronic Arts from $202.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research lowered Electronic Arts from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Electronic Arts to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Argus downgraded Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $206.50.

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.