Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Purchases New Position in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 63,094 shares of the game software company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,726,000. Electronic Arts makes up 1.6% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Electronic Arts by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,420 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $500,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Electronic Arts by 167.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,306 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 12,076 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 150.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 316 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 30.3% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 21,369 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after buying an additional 4,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the second quarter valued at about $589,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

Shares of EA stock opened at $204.00 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $203.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.21 and a 52-week high of $204.88. The stock has a market cap of $51.02 billion, a PE ratio of 59.65, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.11, for a total transaction of $1,020,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 43,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,951,856.38. The trade was a 10.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.30, for a total transaction of $245,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 32,360 shares in the company, valued at $6,611,148. This represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 123,769 shares of company stock valued at $24,943,734. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EA. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $206.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Electronic Arts from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $184.36.

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.