Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) shares reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $203.91 and last traded at $203.7650, with a volume of 296536 shares. The stock had previously closed at $203.44.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EA shares. Roth Capital cut shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Electronic Arts from $206.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen lowered Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Electronic Arts from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Electronic Arts has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $181.64.

Electronic Arts Stock Up 0.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $50.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $200.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The game software company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Electronic Arts had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Electronic Arts

In other news, Director Jeff Huber sold 79,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.17, for a total transaction of $15,969,075.77. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Laura Miele sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 53,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,713,434.68. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 134,869 shares of company stock valued at $26,878,477. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Electronic Arts

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EA. Pentwater Capital Management LP bought a new position in Electronic Arts in the third quarter valued at about $968,160,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 197.5% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,916,693 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $421,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,313 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts during the first quarter worth approximately $225,102,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Electronic Arts in the first quarter valued at approximately $203,537,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Electronic Arts by 62.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,253,505 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $470,197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254,194 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

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.