Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) Short Interest Down 6.0% in October

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,840,000 shares, a decline of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 3,020,000 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Insider Transactions at Electronic Arts

In related news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction on Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,704,360. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.45, for a total transaction of $134,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 20,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,812,962.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,203 shares in the company, valued at $4,704,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,900 shares of company stock worth $4,207,770 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 100,845.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 349,922,048 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $45,384,890,000 after buying an additional 349,575,404 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the 4th quarter valued at about $270,382,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 25,779,074 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $3,343,546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690,474 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 91.5% in the 1st quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,910,863 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $350,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,068 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,193,059 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $390,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,195 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.42% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EA traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $133.70. 2,717,149 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,228,548. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $125.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.55. Electronic Arts has a 1 year low of $108.53 and a 1 year high of $140.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.80.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 28th. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is currently 20.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EA. StockNews.com raised shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. TheStreet cut Electronic Arts from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $142.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Electronic Arts has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.13.

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.