Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquires New Stake in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 900,009 shares of the game software company’s stock, valued at approximately $184,538,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Electronic Arts in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,125,838,000. Pentwater Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 128.1% during the fourth quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 10,950,000 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $2,237,414,000 after buying an additional 6,150,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts during the fourth quarter worth about $643,674,000. HBK Investments L P acquired a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $390,267,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the second quarter valued at approximately $376,664,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of EA stock opened at $209.70 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Electronic Arts Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.10 and a fifty-two week high of $210.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $207.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $203.79. The stock has a market cap of $52.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.23 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Insider Activity at Electronic Arts

In other news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.12, for a total value of $1,015,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 80,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,447,438.88. This represents a 5.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.00, for a total value of $243,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,351,080. This trade represents a 4.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,700 shares of company stock worth $1,766,950. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Electronic Arts Company Profile

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.