Electronic Arts Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:EA)

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders bought 8,725 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 203% compared to the average daily volume of 2,881 call options.

Electronic Arts Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EA traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $203.76. The company had a trading volume of 348,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,532,062. Electronic Arts has a 1 year low of $131.15 and a 1 year high of $204.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $201.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $200.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $50.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.73.

Electronic Arts Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. Electronic Arts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on EA. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Electronic Arts from $207.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $188.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,200 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.69, for a total transaction of $239,628.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,982,712.40. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.26, for a total value of $1,021,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,937,135.08. This represents a 11.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 27,600 shares of company stock valued at $5,553,319 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Electronic Arts

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Electronic Arts by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,773,086 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $5,879,205,000 after purchasing an additional 485,030 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Electronic Arts by 5.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,072,959 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $2,726,552,000 after buying an additional 932,024 shares in the last quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Electronic Arts by 128.1% in the fourth quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 10,950,000 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $2,237,414,000 after buying an additional 6,150,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,764,572 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $1,382,030,000 after acquiring an additional 143,195 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,591,869 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $926,194,000 after acquiring an additional 374,840 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Electronic Arts Company Profile

Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: EA) is a global interactive entertainment company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, EA develops, publishes and distributes video games and related content for a variety of platforms, including consoles, personal computers and mobile devices. The company combines in-house development, partnerships and studio acquisitions to create and maintain a portfolio of entertainment properties and live-service experiences for players worldwide.

EA’s product lineup spans several well-known franchises and genres.