American Century Companies Inc. Grows Holdings in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 377,231 shares of the game software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,026 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.14% of Electronic Arts worth $55,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EA. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Electronic Arts by 353.4% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,269,258 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $185,692,000 after purchasing an additional 989,319 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 51.5% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,099,746 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $160,893,000 after buying an additional 373,730 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 8,503.9% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 318,085 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $45,626,000 after buying an additional 314,388 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 165.7% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 417,817 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $61,127,000 after acquiring an additional 260,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Electronic Arts in the fourth quarter worth about $34,334,000. 90.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on EA shares. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Electronic Arts from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $167.00 to $159.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $173.00 price target on shares of Electronic Arts in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.65.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

NASDAQ EA opened at $145.19 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $132.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.62. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.21 and a 1 year high of $168.50. 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 company has a market cap of $37.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.94, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.78.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The game software company reported $2.34 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Electronic Arts

In other news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.68, for a total value of $713,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 42,615 shares in the company, valued at $6,080,308.20. This represents a 10.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura Miele sold 2,500 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.83, for a total value of $327,075.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 47,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,216,256.62. This represents a 5.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,000 shares of company stock worth $3,018,560 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.