June 1, 2023 marks a significant day for the gaming industry as institutional investor Aviva PLC reported an increased stake in shares of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA). According to the most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Aviva now owns 285,091 shares in the game software company’s stock, a significant increase of 11.9% from the previous quarter. With this acquisition, Aviva now owns roughly 0.10% of Electronic Arts’ total shares, estimated to be worth $986,000.
Electronic Arts released its latest earnings report on May 9th, revealing that during the same period last year they earned $0.82 EPS compared to ($0.04) EPS this year- which unfortunately missed analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 per share by a whopping margin of ($1.35). However, it was not all bad news for Electronic Arts; they noted a net margin of 10.80% and had a return on equity of 16.42%. The company also reported revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, which was up significantly by approximately 11.1% compared to last year.
Despite disappointing earnings results for Q1, Electronic Art’s CEO Andrew Wilson recently sold over five thousand shares of his own stock at prices ranging from $120 – $125 per share via public SEC filings on March 30th and May 24th respectively; bringing in millions in revenue for himself while also reducing his personal investment in EA’s future performance outcomes.
Looking ahead to EA’s future fiscal performance predictors and upcoming gaming projects forecasted for release later this year through early next year—there are still many reasons why investors may remain optimistic about investing in Electronic Art’s stocks despite shortcomings seen in their recent quarterly reports: analysts expect that when all is said and done this current fiscal-yet-to-be-ended period should bring in close to 5 bucks earnings per share – which could be a financial boon for shareholders.
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Institutional Investors Increase Stake in Electronic Arts (EA) as Company Announces Quarterly Dividend
Electronic Arts (EA) has seen a number of institutional investors and hedge funds adjust their positions in the company in recent months. Among these is Gateway Investment Advisers, which increased its position by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, owning 2,645 shares that were valued at $323,000. Checchi Capital Advisers boosted its holding by 2.2% to $442,000, while Kentucky Retirement Systems saw its stake rise 0.4% to $2.5m. Integrated Advisors Network’s increase was slightly higher than Checchi Capital’s at 1.8%, and the Moody National Bank Trust Division saw a similar boost of 1.3%. Institutional investors now own almost 90% of EA’s stock.
The company started trading at $128 on Thursday June 1st, with its low over the past year coming in at $108.53 and high point being $142.79 over the same period. EA has a market cap of $35bn with a P/E ratio of 44.60 an dPEG ratio of 5.60; as well as a beta score of 0.87.
Company insiders sold shares worth more than $4.5m over the past three months alone and CEO Andrew Wilson offloaded nearly six thousands shares on March 30th for an average price per share of $120 for a total of $700,800; following this sale Wilson owns 74,434 shares valued at almost $8,932,080.
EA announced it would be paying a quarterly dividend on June 21st to shareholders who recorded ownership on May 31st; the amount will be $0.19 per shar,e which equates to an annualized dividend payout ratio (DPR) of about26%.
Twelve research analysts gave EA’s stock a hold rating with another twelve issuing a buy rating; according to Bloomberg.com the company has a consensus rating of “moderate buy” and an average price target of $136.88. Deutsche Bank recently raised their price target for EA shares from $125 to $135, while Wedbush raised theirs from $139 to $144; Robert W. Baird raised its own target price from$125 to $145 on May 10th.
