Electronic Arts Inc. $EA Shares Bought by Geode Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 6.76 million shares worth about $1.38 billion, or roughly 2.7% of the company.
• Electronic Arts’ stock was trading around $201.15, near its 52-week high of $204.88, and the company now has a market cap of about $50.4 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.19 per share, while insiders recently sold shares; analysts currently rate EA a consensus “Hold” with an average price target of $196.64.

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,764,572 shares of the game software company's stock after acquiring an additional 143,195 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.70% of Electronic Arts worth $1,382,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EA. Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 100.0% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 138 shares of the game software company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 150.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 316 shares of the game software company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 231 shares of the game software company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the third quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.23% of the company's stock.

Electronic Arts Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ EA opened at $201.15 on Friday. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.19 and a 12 month high of $204.88. The company has a market cap of $50.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.26.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Electronic Arts's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.36, for a total transaction of $302,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,991 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,233,547.76. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,066 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.66, for a total value of $1,021,609.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 85,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,337,516.84. The trade was a 5.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 39,906 shares of company stock valued at $8,032,336 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EA. Citigroup upped their price objective on Electronic Arts from $202.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Electronic Arts from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Electronic Arts presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $196.64.

Electronic Arts Profile

Electronic Arts Inc NASDAQ: EA is a global interactive entertainment company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, EA develops, publishes and distributes video games and related content for a variety of platforms, including consoles, personal computers and mobile devices. The company combines in-house development, partnerships and studio acquisitions to create and maintain a portfolio of entertainment properties and live-service experiences for players worldwide.

EA's product lineup spans several well-known franchises and genres.

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