Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stake in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA - Free Report) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,024,754 shares of the game software company's stock after selling 483,750 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.78% of Electronic Arts worth $296,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in EA. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 141.0% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 200 shares of the game software company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Electronic Arts during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Electronic Arts in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. 90.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Electronic Arts news, EVP Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.45, for a total value of $215,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,354,721.70. The trade was a 6.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.68, for a total transaction of $713,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 42,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,080,308.20. The trade was a 10.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,015,990 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EA. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Electronic Arts from $175.00 to $158.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $163.00 to $139.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Ascendiant Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $157.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $173.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.30.

Electronic Arts Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ EA traded up $2.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $144.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 682,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,610,251. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.21 and a 12-month high of $168.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $37.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. The business's 50 day moving average is $136.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.34.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The game software company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.41 by ($1.07). Electronic Arts had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 14.28%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Electronic Arts's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.34%.

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.