California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Position in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,434,564 shares of the game software company’s stock after selling 24,709 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Electronic Arts were worth $209,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EA. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Electronic Arts by 353.4% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,269,258 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $185,692,000 after purchasing an additional 989,319 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $96,698,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 591.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 696,861 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $101,951,000 after buying an additional 596,141 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 100.8% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 801,915 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $117,513,000 after buying an additional 402,501 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Electronic Arts by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,099,746 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $160,893,000 after acquiring an additional 373,730 shares during the last quarter. 90.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on EA. Raymond James downgraded Electronic Arts from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Electronic Arts from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ascendiant Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $157.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $167.00 to $159.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Electronic Arts has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Electronic Arts

In other Electronic Arts news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.14, for a total value of $650,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 37,615 shares in the company, valued at $4,895,216.10. This represents a 11.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,000 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.57, for a total value of $147,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,216 shares in the company, valued at $4,311,405.12. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,000 shares of company stock worth $3,018,560 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

Shares of EA opened at $144.25 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.70, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.63. Electronic Arts Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.21 and a twelve month high of $168.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The game software company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by ($1.07). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 14.28% and a return on equity of 17.80%. Equities analysts forecast that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.34%.

About Electronic Arts

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.