Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) Earns “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on EA. UBS Group dropped their price objective 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. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $162.00 price target on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. They issued an outperform rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $147.00.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

Shares of EA opened at $127.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.03 billion, a PE ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Electronic Arts has a 1-year low of $117.47 and a 1-year high of $144.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $134.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.50.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The game software company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.38). The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Electronic Arts had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 20.58%. Electronic Arts’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Electronic Arts will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given 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 dividend yield of 0.60%. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.21, for a total transaction of $128,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 18,426 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,362,397.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Electronic Arts news, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.21, for a total value of $128,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,426 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,362,397.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 800 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 28,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,941,904.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,144 shares of company stock worth $5,143,560 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 22,867 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after buying an additional 4,411 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 429,536 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $53,761,000 after purchasing an additional 107,709 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 11,473 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,389,395 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $408,084,000 after purchasing an additional 389,063 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,636,385 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $3,086,621,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600,388 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.