Quilter Plc Reduces Stock Holdings in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Quilter Plc decreased its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 13.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,787 shares of the game software company’s stock after selling 1,321 shares during the quarter. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Electronic Arts were worth $1,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EA. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 197.5% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,916,693 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $421,524,000 after buying an additional 1,936,313 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the first quarter valued at about $225,102,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the first quarter worth about $203,537,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 62.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,253,505 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $470,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 176.6% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,898 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $297,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,189,455 shares in the last quarter. 90.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Electronic Arts

In related news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.79, for a total value of $863,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,189,036.47. This represents a 9.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.80, for a total transaction of $240,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,995,904. The trade was a 4.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 40,900 shares of company stock valued at $7,873,176 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EA opened at $201.58 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.04. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.21 and a 52 week high of $203.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.94, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.74.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The game software company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EA. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Arete Research set a $192.00 price objective on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Electronic Arts from $206.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Electronic Arts currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.64.

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.