Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Sells 2,527 Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,195 shares of the game software company’s stock after selling 2,527 shares during the quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings in Electronic Arts were worth $2,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 22,867 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $2,753,000 after acquiring an additional 4,411 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc. increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.21, for a total transaction of $128,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,362,397.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Electronic Arts news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.88, for a total value of $347,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 30,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,558.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 18,426 shares in the company, valued at $2,362,397.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,144 shares of company stock valued at $5,143,560 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $162.00 price objective on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $153.00 price objective on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $146.00 to $143.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Electronic Arts presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.00.

Electronic Arts Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of EA traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $125.78. 567,340 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,032,661. Electronic Arts Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $117.47 and a fifty-two week high of $144.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average of $135.28 and a 200-day moving average of $134.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.14%.

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.