Vise Technologies Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,398 Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,398 shares of the game software company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EA. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Electronic Arts by 197.5% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,916,693 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $421,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,313 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the first quarter worth about $225,102,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts during the 1st quarter valued at about $203,537,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Electronic Arts by 62.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,253,505 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $470,197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Electronic Arts by 176.6% in 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

NASDAQ EA opened at $201.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.21 and a 1 year high of $203.75. The company has a market cap of $50.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.87, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $191.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.36.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The game software company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.07). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The company had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $206.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Argus set a $210.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Electronic Arts and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $181.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Electronic Arts

In other Electronic Arts news, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.40, for a total transaction of $1,322,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,045,476. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,200 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.80, for a total value of $240,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,880 shares in the company, valued at $4,995,904. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,149,882. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.