Electronic Arts Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.19 (NASDAQ:EA)

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of 0.19 per share by the game software company on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th.

Electronic Arts has increased its dividend by an average of 3.8% annually over the last three years. Electronic Arts has a dividend payout ratio of 8.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Electronic Arts to earn $5.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.9%.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of EA stock traded down $3.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $128.60. The stock had a trading volume of 4,905,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,962,315. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.79. Electronic Arts has a twelve month low of $115.21 and a twelve month high of $168.50.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The game software company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.41 by ($1.07). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 14.28% and a return on equity of 17.80%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Electronic Arts will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Electronic Arts

In other Electronic Arts news, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,000 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.45, for a total value of $164,450.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,216 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,969,021.20. The trade was a 3.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.47, for a total transaction of $832,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,758,819.05. The trade was a 8.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,000 shares of company stock worth $3,889,585. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on EA. StockNews.com downgraded Electronic Arts from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Electronic Arts from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $173.00 price objective on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $163.00 to $139.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $155.24.

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.