Kentucky Retirement Systems Trims Stock Position in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its position in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,522 shares of the game software company’s stock after selling 227 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Electronic Arts were worth $2,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Electronic Arts by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,671,657 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $954,358,000 after buying an additional 26,505 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Electronic Arts by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,607,817 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $235,224,000 after buying an additional 95,190 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Electronic Arts by 51.5% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,099,746 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $160,893,000 after buying an additional 373,730 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in Electronic Arts by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 940,942 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $134,969,000 after buying an additional 206,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Electronic Arts by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,899 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $124,548,000 after buying an additional 66,797 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Electronic Arts

In related news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.00, for a total transaction of $740,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 47,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,047,020. This represents a 9.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stuart Canfield sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.11, for a total transaction of $130,110.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,238,126.76. This trade represents a 9.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,593,095 in the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Electronic Arts from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.55.

Electronic Arts Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ EA opened at $130.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.21 and a 12 month high of $168.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.12 billion, a PE ratio of 33.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.24.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 14.28%. Equities analysts expect that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.34%.

Electronic Arts Company Profile

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.