Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in Electronic Arts by 8.3% in Q3, selling 61,900 shares and leaving it with 688,100 shares worth about $138.8 million (0.28% of EA).
• Insiders have been net sellers, offloading 27,600 shares in the past three months (about $5.59 million), including recent sales by the CFO and another executive.
• Analysts hold a consensus "Hold" rating with a $188.30 price target, below recent trading around $199, while institutions own roughly 90% of the stock.

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA - Free Report) by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 688,100 shares of the game software company's stock after selling 61,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.28% of Electronic Arts worth $138,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EA. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in Electronic Arts by 234.8% during the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 32,498 shares of the game software company's stock valued at $6,555,000 after acquiring an additional 22,790 shares in the last quarter. DLD Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the 3rd quarter worth $4,006,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 9.6% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 643,390 shares of the game software company's stock valued at $129,838,000 after purchasing an additional 56,293 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 48.2% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the game software company's stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Electronic Arts during the third quarter valued at about $230,000. 90.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Electronic Arts

In other news, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.90, for a total transaction of $299,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 5,897 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,178,810.30. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.63, for a total transaction of $240,756.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 31,160 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,251,630.80. The trade was a 3.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,600 shares of company stock worth $5,589,823. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on EA. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $207.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Electronic Arts from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Electronic Arts currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $188.30.

Electronic Arts Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Electronic Arts stock opened at $199.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $49.87 billion, a PE ratio of 74.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.75. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.15 and a 1 year high of $204.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $202.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $196.50.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. Electronic Arts's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.57%.

Electronic Arts Company 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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