Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $203.91 and last traded at $203.7650, with a volume of 296536 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $203.44.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EA shares. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $206.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Baird R W cut shares of Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Monday, September 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.21.

Electronic Arts Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $51.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.63, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $201.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The game software company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Electronic Arts had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 12.14%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Electronic Arts

In related news, Director Jeff Huber sold 79,381 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.17, for a total value of $15,969,075.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Laura Miele sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.06, for a total value of $502,650.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 55,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,188,586.88. The trade was a 4.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 134,869 shares of company stock valued at $26,878,477 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Electronic Arts

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EA. State Street Corp grew its position in Electronic Arts by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,072,959 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $2,726,552,000 after purchasing an additional 932,024 shares in the last quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts in the third quarter valued at $968,160,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 8.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,591,869 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $926,194,000 after buying an additional 374,840 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 4.6% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,355,950 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $695,645,000 after buying an additional 193,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 4.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,314,962 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $870,328,000 after buying an additional 202,657 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

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.