Blair William & Co. IL Cuts Stake in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL has reduced its stake in Electronic Arts Inc. by 13.2% during the second quarter, now holding 12,122 shares valued at approximately $1.94 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have either acquired new stakes or increased their holdings in Electronic Arts, with 90.23% of the stock now owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Recent analyst ratings have shown a trend of downgrade for Electronic Arts, with a current consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $177.00.

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA - Free Report) by 13.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,122 shares of the game software company's stock after selling 1,849 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Electronic Arts were worth $1,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in Electronic Arts during the second quarter valued at about $214,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts during the first quarter valued at about $319,000. CCM Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts during the first quarter valued at about $1,625,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 2.1% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 653,581 shares of the game software company's stock valued at $94,456,000 after buying an additional 13,461 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 4.6% during the second quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 91,328 shares of the game software company's stock valued at $13,944,000 after buying an additional 3,999 shares during the period. 90.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EA shares. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Friday, September 26th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Roth Capital cut shares of Electronic Arts from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Electronic Arts from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Electronic Arts from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $177.00.

Insider Activity

In other Electronic Arts news, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.40, for a total value of $244,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 33,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,820,205.40. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.05, for a total value of $855,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,961,822.65. This represents a 8.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,500 shares of company stock worth $7,025,155 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of Electronic Arts stock opened at $200.20 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $178.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.37. The company has a market capitalization of $50.09 billion, a PE ratio of 50.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.21 and a 52 week high of $203.75.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 27th were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 27th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Electronic Arts's payout ratio is presently 19.05%.

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.

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