Analysts Set Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) Target Price at $165.37

Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $165.37.

EA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $163.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DZ Bank upgraded Electronic Arts from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BNP Paribas raised Electronic Arts to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target (up previously from $154.00) on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

EA stock opened at $165.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $43.35 billion, a PE ratio of 42.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $154.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.00. Electronic Arts has a 12-month low of $124.92 and a 12-month high of $168.50.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.58, for a total transaction of $219,870.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,863,848.80. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.24, for a total value of $143,240.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,181,175.60. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,000 shares of company stock worth $3,086,270 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EA. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 54.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,967 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $3,180,000 after purchasing an additional 8,477 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 192.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,550 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after buying an additional 4,969 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,207 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $865,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 8.3% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 46,360 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $6,459,000 after acquiring an additional 3,554 shares in the last quarter. 90.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.