Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) saw a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 6,010,000 shares, a decrease of 9.5% from the September 15th total of 6,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,500 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.72, for a total value of $217,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,597,739.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,500 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.72, for a total value of $217,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,860 shares in the company, valued at $3,597,739.20. The trade was a 0.00 % 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, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.24, for a total transaction of $143,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,181,175.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,770 shares of company stock worth $3,643,785 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EA. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Electronic Arts by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 39,723 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $5,434,000 after buying an additional 1,553 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Electronic Arts in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,395,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in Electronic Arts during the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its position in Electronic Arts by 2.2% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 5,484 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in Electronic Arts by 21.1% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,352 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on EA. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $163.00 price target on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com raised Electronic Arts from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $154.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $148.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $161.94.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EA traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $144.20. 1,095,789 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,064,459. Electronic Arts has a twelve month low of $119.92 and a twelve month high of $153.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $145.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.94. The stock has a market cap of $38.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.79.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The game software company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.06. Electronic Arts had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Electronic Arts will post 5.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.24%.

Electronic Arts Company 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.