Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Position in Electronic Arts Inc. $EA

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) by 403.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 352,255 shares of the game software company’s stock after acquiring an additional 282,272 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Electronic Arts were worth $56,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EA. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 70.1% in the 2nd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 165 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 3.7% in the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,023 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its stake in Electronic Arts by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 636 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. STF Management LP grew its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 2.0% in the second quarter. STF Management LP now owns 3,944 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $630,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Electronic Arts by 67.5% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 196 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on EA shares. TD Cowen downgraded Electronic Arts from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $148.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Cowen lowered Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Roth Capital cut Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Electronic Arts from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Electronic Arts has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $181.21.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of EA opened at $203.53 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $201.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.83. The firm has a market cap of $50.90 billion, a PE ratio of 59.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.76. Electronic Arts Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.21 and a 12-month high of $204.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The game software company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.07). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The company had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Electronic Arts Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Electronic Arts

In other news, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $1,005,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 48,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,822,900.90. The trade was a 9.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeff Huber sold 79,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.17, for a total value of $15,969,075.77. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,869 shares of company stock worth $26,878,477. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Electronic Arts 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.